Portuguese Armed Forces

Portuguese Armed Forces Forças Armadas Portuguesas
Flag of the Portuguese Armed Forces
Service branches	Army Navy (includes Marine Corps) Air Force National Republican Guard
Headquarters	Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas
Leadership
President of the Portuguese Republic	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Minister of National Defense	Nuno Severiano Teixeira
Chief of staff	Luís Vasco Valença Pinto
Manpower
Military age	18
Conscription	Volunteer
Available for military service	2,435,042 males, age 18-49 (2005 est.), 2,405,816 females, age 18-49 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service	1,952,819 males, age 18-49 (2005 est.), 1,977,264 females, age 18-49 (2005 est.)
Reaching military age annually	67,189 males (2005 est.), 60,626 females (2005 est.)
Active personnel	44,900 (ranked 74th)
Reserve personnel	210,930
Expenditures
Percent of GDP	2.3%
Industry
Domestic suppliers	OGMA, INDEP
Foreign suppliers	United States  France  United Kingdom  Germany
Related articles
History	Military history of Portugal
Ranks	Portuguese Armed Forces ranks and insignia

The Armed Forces of Portugal, commonly known as the Portuguese Armed Forces (Forças Armadas Portuguesas) encompasses a Navy (Armada), an Army (Exercito) and an Air Force (Força Aérea). The President of Portugal is the formal Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces but in practice they answer to the portuguese Government via the National Defense Minister. The Portuguese Armed Forces are charged with protecting Portugal and its overseas territories and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They have a somewhat minor role in NATO assignments. Recent operations have included wars in Afghanistan (2005), intervention in East-Timor (1999) and in Guinea-Bissau (1998) and ongoing peacekeeping responsibilities in the Balkans and Lebanon. Overseas garrisons and facilities are maintained at the island of Madeira and the archipelago of Azores.

History

See also: Military history of Portugal

Origin

See also: Reconquista, Portuguese Empire, and Napoleonic Wars

The siege of Muslim Lisbon by D.Afonso Henriques.

The history of the portuguese military starts with the independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of Leon. The leader of such revolt was the Count Afonso Henriques (later king Afonso I) which had inherited the second County of Portugal (Condado Portucalense) and gained control of it after defeating his mother, Countess Teresa. Portugal had an important role in the Reconquista defeating the Moors and giving the country the current geographic aspect, an achievement made by king Afonso III. However the borders were also defended against the political ambitions of the Kingdoms of Leon and Castille. The land and naval military forces helped Portugal create the earliest and longest lived European colonial Empire. Later this lead (directly or indirectly) to several conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars and the Liberal Wars.

World War I

See also: British Expeditionary Force

Main article: World War I

Portuguese soldiers entrenched during World War I, in Belgium, 1918.

More than a year after the war in Europe broke out, the government of Portugal orders the arrest of German ships anchored in Portuguese ports following a British request, leading to a war declaration by Germany. An Army Corps with the name Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (Corpo Expedicionário Português, CEP) is formed at Tancos, made of 30,000 soldiers, under command of General Norton de Matos. It is decided to include the CEP into the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the first men arrive in France by February 1917. Also an artillery portuguese Corps is sent to man french batteries, which they start operating by March 1918. The CEP would see major action at Battle of La Lys, as it became known in Portugal or Operation Georgette/Battle of Estaires to the British. The Portuguese 2nd Division is overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the German Army and the unit is almost completely lost. The war would end in the same year with the Allied victory. Portuguese troops also fought in Africa, due to the colonies of Angola and Mozambique bordering German territories.

Colonial War

Main article: Portuguese Colonial War

Air Force helicopter operating in an African theatre during the war.

The portuguese Colonial War (Guerra Colonial), also known as Overseas War (Ultramar) in Portugal or in the former colonies as War of liberation (Guerra de Libertação), was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974. It was a decisive ideological struggle and armed conflict of the cold war in African (Portuguese Africa and surrounding nations) and European (mainland Portugal) scenarios. Unlike other European nations, the Portuguese regime did not leave its African colonies or the overseas provinces (províncias ultramarinas), during the 1950s and 1960s. It was during this period that various armed independence movements, most prominently led by communist parties who cooperated under the CONCP umbrella and pro US groups, became active in these areas, most notably in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea. The war would end when portuguese junior military officers, under the influence of the communists would overthrow the regime in a bloodless coup. This later led to the independance of all Portuguese colonies.

Recent History

Army Chaimite armoured vehicles in Bosnia.

Portuguese soldiers in an evacuation in Bosnia.

After the conturbed transition period between 1974 and 1975, Portugal became a democratic state. Reforms on the military structure would then start to ensure it would meet the requirements for a possible Cold War conflict and later for the New World Order scenario. Between 1975 and 2007 several major changes were made. A Defense Ministry was created which would be in charge of the three military branches although officially the President of Portugal would be the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Many units were disbanded with the end of the colonial war (mainly Infantry) since high manpower was no longer needed and the counter-guerrilla doctrine would change to a more conventional one. The conscription for the Army and for the Navy ended in 2004 while the Air Force was professionalized a while before. Paratroopers (Tropas Páraquedistas) would be transferred from the Air Force to the Army in 1994 and the Commandos (Comandos) would be disbanded only to be recreated in 2002. However later these two special units would be joined under the same Brigade along with the Special Operations Forces (Operações Especiais). Military Police would be renamed as Army Police (Policia do Exercito) and the other two branches would receive equivalent units, the Air Police (Policia Aérea) and the Naval Police (Policia Naval), in the Air Force and Navy respectively. In 1992 a Naval Aviation (Aviação Naval) unit was created to give the Fleet more efficiency in coastal surveillance and maritime patrols.

Rank

* Army Captains (Capitães) are the sole members of their own class. ** The Private (Soldado) rank exists only in the Army.

References

• CIA World Factbook
• http://www.mdn.gov.pt/Defesa/Simbolos/postos.htm

External links

• Portuguese Ministry of Defense
• Portuguese Armed Forces Chief of Staff
• Portuguese Army
• Portuguese Air Force
• Portuguese Navy

•  • e Portuguese Armed Forces
under the command of the Ministry of Defence
Air Force (Força Aérea)    Army (Exército)    Navy (Marinha)    National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana)

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