Portuguese Armed Forces

Portuguese Armed Forces
Forças Armadas

Portuguese tri-service colour guard, leading a Fuzileiros detachment
Founded 1950
Current form 1982
Service branches Exército
Marinha
Força Aérea
Headquarters EMGFA
Leadership
Supreme Commander Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Minister of National Defense Azeredo Lopes [1]
Chief of the General Staff Artur Pina Monteiro [2]
Manpower
Available for
military service		 2,566,264 males, age 18-35 (2010[3]),
2,458,297 females, age 18-35 (2010[4])
Fit for
military service		 2,103,080 males, age 18-35 (2010[5]),
2,018,004 females, age 18-35 (2010[6])
Reaching military
age annually		 62,208 males (2010[7]),
54,786 females (2010[8])
Active personnel 44,900[9]
Expenditures
Budget €2.138,8 billion (2014)[10]
Percent of GDP 1.1% (2014)[11]

The Portuguese Armed Forces (Portuguese: Forças Armadas) are the military of Portugal. They include the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the other unified bodies and the three service branches: the Portuguese Navy, the Portuguese Army and the Portuguese Air Force.[12]

The President of the Portuguese Republic is the head of the Military, with the title of "Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces" (Comandante Supremo das Forças Armadas)[13] The management of the Armed Forces and the execution of the national defense policy is however done by the Government via its Ministry of National Defense.[14] The highest ranking officer in the Military is the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, which has operational control of the Armed forces during peace time and assumes their full control when a state of war exists.

The Armed Forces are charged with protecting Portugal as well as supporting international peacekeeping efforts when mandated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United Nations and/or the European Union. Recent operations include anti-piracy action in the Gulf of Aden, the conflict in Afghanistan, peacekeeping missions in East-Timor, Lebanon, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and air policing of Iceland and the Baltic States.[15]

Military units and other bodies are stationed throughout the all the Portuguese territory, including Continental Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.

General principles

The Armed Forces

The Portuguese Armed Forces are an essential pillar of the national defense and are the structure of the State that has as its main mission the military defense of the Republic. They obey to the competent bodies of sovereignty, accordingly with the Constitution and the law, being integrated in the State direct administration through the Ministry of National Defense. The bodies of State directly responsible for the national defense and the Armed Forces are the following:

The Minister of National Defense is the political responsible for the elaboration and execution of the military component of the national defense policy, for the administration of the Armed Forces and for the results of their employment.

System of forces

The system of forces defines the set of capacities that should exist for the fulfillment of the missions of the Armed Forces. It encompasses the set of systems of forces of all branches of the Armed Forces. The system of forces includes two components:

Structure of the Armed Forces

The Portuguese Armed Forces structure include:

Current deployments

The national deployed forces (forças nacionais destacadas or FND) are units or teams deployed by the Portuguese Armed Forces in foreign missions, mostly in the scope of NATO, the United Nations or the European Union. Currently, the Portuguese Armed Forces maintain around 600 military personnel in forces or elements deployed in the following international missions:

History

Background

The history of the Portuguese military itself begins in the 12th century with the creation of the Kingdom of Portugal. The naval and ground forces would remain independent from each other for hundreds of years.

By the 20th century some joint military and national defense bodies had been created but these had mostly mere political coordination responsibilities. The administration of the several forces of the military remained in charge of separate government departments, respectively the Navy Ministry for the Navy (Marinha), the War Ministry for the Metropolitan Army (Exército Metropolitano) and the Colonies Ministry for the Colonial Military Forces (Forças Militares Coloniais). Operationally, the service branches were also completely independent from each other, with totally separated chains of command.

During the 1930s, plans were laid to merge all of the previously mentioned ministries under a single defense ministry. However, the service branches lobbies for the maintenance of their autonomy - represented by their separate government departments - politically opposed and were able to block this reorganization for the next couple of decades.

Nevertheless, the need to defend the Overseas Empire against possible foreign aggression during World War II, did lead to a significant step being taken during this period for an increased integration of the several military services, when the Colonial Military Forces were placed under the dependency of the War Ministry, which then became in charge of all Portuguese ground forces (metropolitan and colonial).

Establishment of the unified Armed Forces

Lessons learned from World War II, the start of the Cold War and the creation of NATO (which Portugal integrated as a founding member[16]) partially ended the objections for the creation of a joint command for the military forces. In 1950, the roles of Minister of National Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGFA) are created.[17] To the CEMGFA were given almost all the responsibilities until then assigned to the majors-generals of the Navy and of the Army (service branches military commanders), whose roles were at the same time extinct.[18] This can be considered the beginning of the existence of the Portuguese Armed Forces as an unified organization.

However, opposition from both of the then existing military branches prevented the formation of a single ministry for the military. The political solution for this was the creation of the role of Minister of National Defense Minister but without its own ministry, instead integrating the Government's Presidency Office. The Minister of National Defense Minister directed an umbrella organization, named the National Defense Department which included the CEMGFA, the General Secretariat of National Defense (SGDN, Secretariado-Geral da Defesa Nacional) and the Under-Secretariat of State of the Aeronautics (Subsecretariado de Estado da Aeronáutica). Besides this, the Minister of Defense had the role of coordinating the Navy and Army ministers, which continued to exist. The SGDN would only be transformed into a full military staff organization in 1974, becoming the Armed Forces General Staff (EMGFA).

Despite all the challenges, the operational integration of the Armed Forces progressed in the 1950s. This included the establishment of the roles of commander-in-chief in each of the Overseas territories, as permanent unified commanders of the local forces of the three branches. Mainly during the Overseas War, these commanders-in-chief would assume increasing responsibilities, until achieving full operational command of all forces assigned to their theater of operations, leaving the territorial service branch leadership with mere logistical responsibilities.

The Military Aeronautics (Army aviation branch), that already had a high degree of autonomy since 1937, becomes an entirely separate branch of service of the Armed Forces in 1952, at the same time starting to control the Portuguese Naval Aviation (Navy aviation service). This third branch of the Armed Forces would soon became officially designated Portuguese Air Force (Força Aérea Portuguesa), with the fully integration of the previous Naval Aviation becoming complete in 1958. Unlike the other services which had their own separate ministries, the Air Forces was under the directly dependency of the Minister of National Defense via the Under-Secretariat of State of the Aeronautics. In 1961, the status of this department would be upgraded, it becoming the Secretariat of State of the Aeronautics.

In 1953, the National Republican Guard ceased policing the military, with the establishment the Military Police by the Army.[19] Later, the other service branches would create their respective military police type forces: the Air Police for the Air Force and the Naval Police for the Navy.

Overseas conflicts

Portuguese paratroopers jump from an Alouette III helicopter in an air-mobile assault in Angola, in the early 1960s.

Between 1961 and 1974, the Portuguese Armed Forces would be engaged against emerging nationalist movements in several of the Portuguese African provinces. These set of conflicts are collectively referred as the Overseas War in Portugal. In the scope of the Cold War, it was a decisive ideological struggle and armed conflict in African (Portuguese Africa and surrounding nations) and Portuguese European mainland scenarios. Unlike other European nations, the Portuguese regime did not leave its African overseas provinces during the 1950s and 1960s.[20] Several armed independence movements, most prominently led by communist parties who cooperated under the CONCP umbrella and pro US groups became active in these areas (especially in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea).[21]

The Portuguese Armed Forces were able to maintain a large military campaign for 13 years, in these three different theaters of operations, thousands of kilometers apart from each other and from the European mainland. This was achieved with almost no external support, in contrast with the nationalist movements which were backed by communist countries and even by some western ones. The Army suffered the majority of the casualties with 8290 soldiers killed in action while the Air Force lost 346 airmen and the Navy lost 195 sailors.

During the conflict, in each theater of operations, the operational command of the forces of the Navy, Army and Air Force was successively transferred from each territorial service branch command to joint commands, led by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in that specific theater. Thus the three branches of the military were able to achieve a high level of operational integration, allowing for an effective cooperation between them, the optimization of their scarce assets and the ability to fight as a single cohesive force. The logistics side however was not able to reach such high levels of integration, mainly because each service branch continued to be administered by its own government department with its own supply chain and different standards.

Due to the nature of the conflict, commando type forces achieved great importance. With the war's evolution, these assumed almost all of the mobile and offensive operations, with the more conventional forces remaining responsible mainly for the defensive assignments. By 1961, each service branch had created its own light infantry force oriented for asymmetric warfare. The Air Force created the Parachute Rifles (Caçadores Páraquedistas) in 1956,[22] the Army first raised the Special Rifles (Caçadores Especiais) in 1960[23] which were later replaced by the Commandos (Comandos)[24] in 1962 and the Navy deployed the Marines (Fuzileiros), a force reactivated in 1961.[25] The Portuguese military also counted with a number of paramilitary forces, including the Special Groups (Grupos Especiais) and the Arrows (Flechas).

The Portuguese Armed Forces were also involved in a brief conventional armed conflict with the Indian military, when the latter invaded the Portuguese India in December 1961. Facing overwhelmingly superior forces and after 36 hours of combat, the Portuguese India Commander-in-Chief - General Vassalo e Silva - surrendered to the Indian Forces. Portuguese forces suffered 30 dead and 57 wounded, with almost 5000 personnel being taken as prisoners of war, these being released six months later. The Indian Armed Forces officially recognized to have suffered 76 casualties during the invasion.[26]

Democratic Republic

Monument in memory of Army captain Salgueiro Maia in Santarém.

On the morning of 25 April 1974, the Armed Forces Movement (MFA, Movimento das Forças Armadas) – consisting mostly of junior officers of the three service branches – launched a coup d'état, known as the Carnation Revolution, which would bring an end to the New State regime and shortly the Overseas War.[27] While the revolt included several military units located on the mainland, the forces that departed from the Cavalry School located in Santarém, led by captain Salgueiro Maia, were the ones that managed to obtain the surrender of prime-minister Marcelo Caetano after a stand-off at the National Republican Guard headquarters in Lisbon, where he and some other members of the Government had taken refuge.

However, after the revolution and for about a year and a half, the Portuguese military would become highly politicized and split into several factions. By the summer of 1975, the tension between these was so high, that the country was on the verge of civil war. The forces connected to the extreme left-wing launched a further coup d'état on 25 November but the Group of Nine – a moderate military faction – immediately initiated a counter-coup. The main episode of this confrontation was the successful assault on the barracks of the left-wing dominated Military Police Regiment by the moderate forces of the Commando Regiment, resulting in three soldiers killed in action. The Group of Nine emerged victorious, thus preventing the establishment of a communist state in Portugal and ending the period of political instability in the country.[28]

The Ministry of National Defense would be created during this period of instability. However this ministry had no power over the Armed Forces, his role was simply to act as a connection between the military and the Government. It was the Revolution Council – created in 1975, consisting only of military officers and chaired by the President of the Republic – that had the full control over the Armed Forces, which meant these were completely independent from the civilian administration. The Government military departments (Navy Ministry, Army Ministry and Secretariat of State of the Aeronautics) were disbanded, with each service branch chief of staff assuming the roles of the former ministers, under the coordination of the CEMGFA, to whom was given a status equivalent to that of the Prime Minister of Portugal. This organization would remain in place until 1982, when the Revolution Council was disbanded after the first revision to the 1976 Constitution.[29] The Armed Forces were again placed under the subordination of the civilian administration, more specifically being integrated in the Ministry of National Defense.

With the decolonization and the end of the Overseas War, the Portuguese military would change from an asymmetric war oriented force to a conventional war oriented force, focused in defense of Western Europe from a possible Soviet invasion. However the collapse of the Soviet Union would trigger another transformation, since the Armed Forces gradually became more expeditionary oriented, participating in several independent international missions or under the mandate of the United Nations, European Union or NATO.

Meanwhile the 1980s would see the creation of special operations, namely the Army's Special Operations Forces[30] and the Navy's Special Actions Detachment.[31] In 1990, the Air Force would create Combat Rescue teams (Resgate em Combate or RESCOM) for CSAR operations but in 2006 these were extinct and replaced by the Force Protection Unit (Unidade de Protecção da Força or UPF) whose mission is to provide security for the Air Force elements deployed on international missions.[32]

Conscription for the Armed Forces ceased in 2004.[33]

Recent

Força Nacional Destacada in Kosovo.

In April 2013, the Portuguese Government approved a structural reform of the National Defense, named "Defense 2020" (Defesa 2020).[34] It was done with the objective of defining the level of ambition of the Forças Armadas by establishing the guidance parameters for strategic planning, reinforcing the leading responsibility of the CEMGFA in the execution of the approved military strategy, reducing human resources while at the same time improving their management and enhancing the coordination between the EMGFA, the branches of the Forças Armadas and the MDN.

Defense 2020 establishes the existence of three force sets:

Organization

General Staff of the Armed Forces

Headquarters building of the EMGFA and of the Ministry of National Defense, in Lisbon.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA, Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas) is the superior military body and supreme headquarters of the Portuguese Armed Forces. It is responsible for planning, directing and controlling the usage of the three service branches in their fulfillment of assigned missions and tasks.[35] The EMGFA is headed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and includes:

The EMGFA also includes the following bodies:

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces

The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGFA, Chefe do Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas) is the principal military adviser of the Minister of National Defense and is the chief with the highest authority in the hierarchy of the Portuguese Armed Forces.

The CEMGFA is an admiral or a general (four star rank) of one of the branches of service, appointed by the President of the Republic by proposal of the Government. Before being proposed to the President, the nominee has to be presented by the Minister of National Defense to the Council of Chiefs of Staff for a previous hearing. If the nominee is refused by the President, the Government has to present another option. Traditionally, there is a rotation of the branch of service that provides the CEMGFA, but this is not mandatory and not always happens.

The CEMGFA is responsible for the planning and implementation of the operational military strategy, having under his hierarchic dependency the chiefs of staff of the branches of service for the matters that evolve the preparedness, the employment and the sustainment of the forces and assets of the operational component of the system of forces and responding before the Government - through the Minister of national Defense - for the military response capacity of the Armed Forces. The CEMGFA is the operational commander of the Armed Forces, being responsible for the employment of all forces and assets of the operational component of the system of forces in operational missions. The sustainment of the forces and assets referred before is under the branches of service responsibility, with the respective chiefs of staff being under the CEMGFA dependency for that.

The branch of service chief of staff who is longer in the function replaces the CEMGFA, in case of his absence or impediment.

Branches of the Armed Forces

The Portuguese Armed Forces include three branches, these being the Navy, the Army and the Air Force. Created centuries ago, the Navy and the Army are much older than the integrated Armed Forces themselves. The Air Force is however younger, being created as a separate branch already after the establishment of the integrated Armed Forces. The branches of service have as their principal mission to participate - in an integrated form - in the defense of the Republic, in the terms defined by the Constitution and the law, being mainly aimed for the generation, preparation and sustainment of the forces of the operational component of the system of forces. The branches also guarantee their own specific missions established by particular laws and also guarantee the operational missions given to them by the CEMGFA.

The increase integration and standardization of the different branches of service meant that their organizations gradually approached. Presently, all the three branches have an identical organizational model that includes:

The chiefs of staff serve as the branch commanders. The staffs are the bodies for planning and decision support of the respective chiefs of staff, being able also to assume roles of management, control, advisement or inspection. The central bodies of administration and management have a functional character and are intended to guarantee the management and execution in specific fundamental areas and activities as the human, material, financial, information and infrastructures resources management. The component commands (naval, land and air) are intended to support the chiefs of staff in their command roles. The component commands can be put under the direct dependency of the CEMGFA for the exercise of his command roles. The bodies of advisement are intended to support the decision of the chiefs of staff in special and important matters regarding the preparedness, discipline and administration of the branch. The bodies of inspection are intended to support the control and evaluation function of the chiefs of staff. The base bodies are those aimed at the training, the sustainment and the general support of the branch. The elements of the operational component of the system of forces are the forces and assets of the branch intended for the accomplishment of the operational missions.

Besides the above referred standard bodies, the Navy also includes the Hydrographic Institute and the Maritime Search and Rescue Service, while the Air Force also includes the Air Search and Rescue Service.

Until recently, the Navy also included the National Maritime Authority. Statutorily, the Maritime Authority is now an entirely separate legal entity, but it continues to be headed by the Chief of Staff of the Navy and continues to be mainly administered, supported and staffed by the Navy. The same happens with the National Aeronautic Authority in relation to the Air Force, the difference being that this Authority was created already as separate legal entity.

Chiefs of staff of the branches

The chiefs of staff of the Navy, of the Army and of the Air Force command their respective branches, being the military chiefs with the higher authority in each of the branches hierarchy and being the principal advisors of the Minister of National Defense and of the CEMGFA in all matters related with their branches. Inside each branch, the respective chief of staff is the only officer with a four-star rank (admiral in the Navy and general in the other two branches).

The chiefs of staff are part of the operational command structure of the Armed Forces, serving as deputy commanders of the CEMGFA. While they report to the CEMGFA in the operational, military intelligence and security, military higher learning, military health and other joint matters, they report directly to the Minister of National Defense in the matters related with the current management of their branches resources.

The chiefs of staff of the branches are appointed by the President of the Republic, by Government proposal, in an analogous process of that of the CEMGFA appointment. The CEMGFA must be heard before a name being proposed to the President.

Military bodies of advisement

The military bodies of advisement of the Armed Forces are the Council of Chiefs of Staff and the higher councils of the several branches.

The Council of Chiefs of Staff is the principal military coordinating body, being also the body of advisement of the CEMGFA. It is presided by the CEMGFA and also includes the chiefs of staff of the three branches of service. Other military entities may be invited to participate in their meetings, but without voting rights.

In each of the branches, there is an higher council presided by the respective chief of staff. These are the Council of the Admiralty, the Higher Council of the Army and the Higher Council of the Air Force. The branches may have other advisement bodies like the military careers councils (the councils of class in the Navy, the councils of arm or service in the Army and the councils of specialty in the Air Force).

The branches of the Armed Forces

Navy

Main article: Portuguese Navy
U-209PN Tridente-class submarine.

The Navy (Marinha, with its naval branch also being referred as Armada) is the naval component of the Portuguese Armed Forces. It includes around 9000 military personnel (including around 2000 marines) and around 40 naval ships and submarines. On the contrary of the other service branches that have an almost purely military role, the Navy historically has had a wide scope of non-military roles, being responsible for the administration of all maritime activities, including the merchant marine, the fisheries and the maritime authority. The responsibility over the non-military maritime activities has however been gradually transferred to other organizations since the disbandment of the Navy Ministry in 1974, with only a few - as the maritime authority and the hydrographic survey - remaining now under the Navy tutelage. The Portuguese Navy is one of the oldest in the world, with its first known naval engagement occurring in 1180. A permanent Navy exists since 1317, when the role of Admiral of Portugal was created.

The Navy is headed by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and includes the Navy Staff, the Personnel Superintendence, the Material Superintendence, the Finance Superintendence, the Information Technologies Superintendence, the Naval Command (naval component command, with five subordinate maritime zone commands), the Council of the Admiralty and the Inspection-General of the Navy. The base bodies of the branch include the Lisbon Naval Base, the Central Facilities of the Navy Support Unit, the Naval School, the training schools (Marines, Hydrography and Oceanography, Divers and Naval Technologies), the Integrated Center of Naval Training and Evaluation and the squadrons (ocean escorts, patrol ships, submarines and helicopters). The elements of the operational component of forces of the Navy include the Marine Corps Command, the forces (naval and marine forces), the operational assets and units (naval, marine and divers units) and the centers (command centers and posts and operations support centers). The Navy includes the Marines (Fuzileiros), a naval infantry force that serves in the roles of naval security and police, amphibious landing operations and ship boarding operations. The Marines include the Special Actions Detachment, a special operations unit. The Navy also includes the Sappers Divers Group, its combat divers unit. The Navy further includes the Hydrographic Institute, the Maritime Search and Rescue Service and the International Maritime Law Commission.[36]

The Navy careers are named classes. For the officers, the classes are navy (M), naval engineers (EN), naval administration (AN), marines (FZ), naval physicians (MN), naval senior technicians (TSN), technical service (ST), health technicians (TS) and musicians (MUS). For the enlisted, the classes are administrative (L), communications (C), auto mechanics-drivers (V), electro mechanics (EM), electro technicians (ET), marines (FZ), maneuvers (M), naval machinists (MQ), divers (U), musicians (B), operations (O), stewards (T) and weapons technicians (A).

Army

Main article: Portuguese Army
Army's Portuguese Pandur armored vehicles in maneuvers.

The Army (Exército) is the land component of the Portuguese Armed Forces and its larger branch. It's one of the oldest armies of the world, with its origins going back to the Portuguese Royal Hoste of the 12th century, in the early period of the Kingdom of Portugal. The foundations of a standing army were established in 1570, with the creation of the Ordenanças. In the middle of the 17th century, the Portuguese land force started to be referred as the Exército.

The Army is headed by the Chief of Staff of the Army and includes the Army Staff, the Personnel Command, the Logistics Command, the Directorate of Finance and the Land Forces Command (land component command, with two subordinate military zone commands) and the Inspection-General of the Army. The base bodies of the branch are divided by the areas of obtainment and administration of human resources, of readying of forces (including 21 regiments of several arms, the Special Operations Troops Centre and the Army Intelligence and Military Security Center), of logistical support (including the Army Geospatial Intelligence Center, two service support regiments, the Army Material General Support Unit and two health centers), of teaching and training (including the Military Academy, the School of the Arms, the School of the Services, the Army Sergeants School, the Military College and the Army Pupils Institute) and of divulgation and preservation of military culture. The Army includes also bodies that support other branches of the Armed Forces, including the Military Prison Establishment, the Military Laboratorial Unit of Biological and Chemical Defense and the Military Unit of Veterinary Medicine). The elements of the operational component of the system of forces of the Army include the Land Forces Command, the formations and operational units commands, the military zones commands and the general support and emergency military support forces.[37] The formations include the Quick Reaction Brigade, the Mechanized Brigade and the Intervention Brigade.

The Army careers are designated corps of general officers, arms and services. The corps of general officers include all generals, who may originate from the arms or from some of the services officer careers, but with only those originating from the arms being able to achieve the ranks above that of major-general. The arms are mostly careers associated with combatant roles while the services are mostly careers associated with logistical roles. For the officers, the arms are infantry (INF), artillery (ART), cavalry (CAV), engineering (ENG) and communications (TM) and the services are military administration (ADMIL), material (MAT), medicine (MED), pharmacy (FARM), veterinary (VET), dentistry (DENT), nursery, diagnostic and therapeutic technicians (TEDT), chiefs of music band (CBMUS), communications exploration technicians (TEXPTM), communications maintenance technicians (TMANTM), material maintenance technicians (TMANMAT), personnel and secretariat technicians (TPESSECR), transportations technicians (TTRANS), Army general service (SGE) and parachutist general service (SGPQ). For the sergeants, the arms are infantry (INF), artillery (ART), cavalry (CAV), engineering (ENG), communications (TM) and parachutists (PARAQ) and the services are military administration (AM), material (MAT), medicine (MED), pharmacy (FARM), veterinary (VET), music (MUS), clarions (CLAR), personnel and secretariat (PESSECR), transportations (TRANS), Army general service (SGE) and amanuensis (AMAN). The Army volunteers careers groups are slightly different and include functional areas, subdivided in specialties. The functional areas for the officer are mechanized/motorized infantry (AF01), light infantry - commando, special operations and paratrooper (AF02), field artillery (AF03), anti-aircraft artillery (AF04), cavalry (AF05), Army police (AF06), engineering (AF24), communications (AF10), material (AF21), administration (AF22), personnel and secretariat (AF23), senior support technician (AF25), transportation (AF18), health medicine (AF25), health nursery, diagnostic and therapeutic (AF27), dental health, veterinary health (AF29) and pharmacy. For the volunteer sergeants and other ranks, the functional areas are infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineering, communications, mechanics, military administration, health, transportations, personnel and secretariat, music and general services.

Air Force

Main article: Portuguese Air Force
F-16D Fighting Falcon aircraft.

The Air Force (Força Aérea) is the air component of the Portuguese Armed Forces and its younger branch. It includes around 6600 personnel and 100 aircraft. It was established as an independent branch of service in 1952, when the Military Aeronautics arm was completely separated from the Army, at the same time starting to control the Naval Aviation.

The Air Force is headed by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and includes the Air Force Staff, the Air Force Personnel Command, the Air Force Logistics Command, the Air Force Directorate of Finance and the Air Command (air component command, with two subordinate air zone commands). The base bodies of the branch include the Air Force Academy, the Military and Technical Training Center of the Air Force, five air bases, two maneuver aerodromes, a transit aerodrome and four radar stations. The elements of the operational component of the system of forces of the Air Force include the operational planning bodies, the Air Command and Control System, the flying units and the anti-aircraft intervention units. The flying units include two training squadrons (TB 30 Epsilon and Alpha-Jet), one fighter squadron (F-16 AM), one attack squadron (F-16 AM), three transport squadrons (C-130, C-295M and Falcon 50), two helicopter squadrons (Alouette III and EH-101), one maritime patrol squadron (Lockheed P-3C) and one Air Force Academy squadron (ASK-21, OGMA Chipmunk Mk 20 (modif) and L-23 Super Blaník). The Polícia Aérea (Air Police) is the ground combat force of the Air Force, which serves as its military police, internal security and ground anti-aircraft defense force, including a special forces unit, this being the Force Protection Unit (UPF).

The Air Force careers are designated specialties. The officers specialties include pilots-aviators (PILAV), aeronautic engineers (ENGAER), aerodromes engineers (ENGAED), electrical engineers (ENGEL), medics (MED), aeronautical administration (ADMAER), jurists (JUR), psychologists (PSI), navigators (NAV), communications and cryptography operations technicians (TOCC), meteorology operations technicians (TOMET), air circulation and traffic radar operations technicians (TOCART), interception conduct operations technicians (TOCI), air material maintenance technicians (TMMA), land material maintenance technicians (TMMT), electrical material maintenance technicians (TMMEL), armament and equipment maintenance technicians (TMAEQ), infrastructures maintenance technicians (TMI), supply technicians (TABST), IT technicians (TINF), personnel and administrative support technicians (TPAA), health technicians (TS), air police (PA) and chiefs of music band (CHBM). The enlisted personnel specialties include communications operators (OPCOM), meteorology operators (OPMET), air circulation and traffic radar operators (OPCART), detection radar operators (OPRDET), IT operators (OPINF), assistance and aid systems operators (OPSAS),air material mechanics (MMA), land material mechanics (MMT), electricity mechanics (MELECT), electronics mechanics (MELECA), aircraft electricity and instruments mechanic (MELIAV), armament and equipment mechanics (MARME), supply (ABS), infrastructure construction and maintenance (CMI), air police (PA), secretariat and service support (SAS) and musicians (MUS).

Current strength

Currently the Portuguese military forces number is 32,992 with the majority of the manpower allocated to the Army.

Recent defense policy has assumed that most considerable operations would be undertaken under NATO, United Nations, or European Union mandates. East-Timor, Kosovo and Afghanistan are all examples; the last large scale military action of the Portuguese Armed Forces entering alone was the overseas conflict (1961–1974). Nonetheless Portugal's Armed Forces have conducted peace-enforcing and humanitarian missions on their own in Guinea-Bissau (1990, 1998, and 1999) and Angola (1992).

All international missions assigned to the military have been fulfilled without limitations. A Military Programation Law (Lei de Programação Militar) was launched in 2002 to start the complete modernization of the Armed Forces; considerable re-equipment of the military started in 2003, with Defense Minister Paulo Portas, who managed to acquire new helicopters (Army and Air Force), submarines, IFV (Army and Navy), frigates and naval patrol boats. Ironically one of the most important issues, the replacement of the light firearms, failed during his mandate due to the soldiers clinging onto their cheap and highly reliable Heckler & Koch G3's, made by INDEP (the Portuguese Military factory) in Portugal.

The present government also started re-equipment with the purchase of new battle tanks in early 2008, the Leopard 2A6 and new Armoured personnel carriers, Pandur II.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.defesa.pt/Paginas/AzeredoLopesvisitaoEMGFA.aspx
  2. ↑ "Chefe de Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas Artur Pina Monteiro" (PDF). emgfa.pt. Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "The World Factbook". cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "The World Factbook". cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "The World Factbook". cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "The World Factbook". cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "The World Factbook". cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "The World Factbook". cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Organização - As Forças Armadas". emgfa.pt. Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "OE 2014. Defesa Nacional aumenta despesa total em 6,8% face a 2013". ionline.pt. Jornal i. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "Despesas com a Defesa Nacional". emgfa.pt. Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  12. ↑ "Lei Orgânica 1-A/2009 Capítulo I Artigo 7º Nº1" (PDF). Diário da República. XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "Lei 31-A/2006 Capítulo III Artigo 9º" (PDF). Diário da República. XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal. Retrieved 23 January 2014..
  14. ↑ "Lei 31-A/2006 Capítulo IV Artigo 20º" (PDF). Diário da República. XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "Hístorico de operações". emgfa.pt. Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "MILESTONES: 1945–1952". history.state.gov. United States Department of State. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "Historial - O pós guerra". exercito.pt. Exército Português. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  18. ↑ "Decreto-lei 37909". Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "Regimento de Lanceiros Nº2 - Historial". exercito.pt. Exército Português. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  20. ↑ "PORTUGAL E OS VENTOS DA HISTÓRIA". guerracolonial.org. Guerra Colonial :: 1961 - 1974. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  21. ↑ "MAPA DA GUERRA". guerracolonial.org. Guerra Colonial :: 1961 - 1974. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  22. ↑ "PÁRA-QUEDISTAS". guerracolonial.org. Guerra Colonial :: 1961 - 1974. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  23. ↑ "CAÇADORES". guerracolonial.org. Guerra Colonial :: 1961 - 1974. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  24. ↑ "COMANDOS". guerracolonial.org. Guerra Colonial :: 1961 - 1974. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  25. ↑ "FUZILEIROS". guerracolonia.org. Guerra Colonial :: 1961 - 1974. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  26. ↑ Azaredo, Carlos; Gabriel Figueiredo(translation) (8 December 2001). "Passage to India – 18th December 1961". Passage to India – 18th December 1961. http://www.goancauses.com. Retrieved 20 February 2010. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  27. ↑ "O MFA". guerracolonial.org. Guerra Colonial :: 1961 - 1974. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  28. ↑ "25 de Novembro, o fim do Verão Quente". areamilitar.net. Áreamilitar. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  29. ↑ "Lei n.º 1/82, de 30 de Setembro". pgdlisboa.pt. Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  30. ↑ "Centro de Tropas de Operações Especiais - Historial". exercito.pt. Exército Português. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  31. ↑ "O DESTACAMENTO DE ACÇÕES ESPECIAIS - Zebros e Skua". operacional.pt. Operacional - defesa, forças armadas e de segurança. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  32. ↑ "AFEGANISTÃO: UNIDADE DE PROTECÇÃO DA FORÇA EM OPERAÇÕES". operacional.pt. Operacional - defesa, forças armadas e de segurança. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  33. ↑ "Decreto-Lei n.º 118/2004 de 21 Maio" (PDF). dgap.gov.pt. XV Governo Constitucional de Portugal. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  34. ↑ "RESOLUÇÃO DO CONSELHO DE MINISTROS, "DEFESA 2020"". operacional.pt. Operacional - defesa, forças armadas e de segurança. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  35. ↑ "Lei Orgânica nº1-A/2009 Capítulo II Secção I Artigo 8º Nº1" (PDF). emgfa.pt. XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  36. ↑ "DL nº233/2009 Capítulo II Artigo 6º" (PDF). emgfa.pt. XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  37. ↑ "DL nº231/2009 Capítulo II Artigo 6º" (PDF). emgfa.pt. XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal. Retrieved 8 May 2015.

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