Armed Forces of the World
Portugal
--til very recently Portugal was a colonial power
'. -n troops stationed overseas in Angola, Guinea,
- ^lor and Mozambique. Today the armed forces
-: only two main f unctions, f irst as a member of
-:"'eNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization which the
-:.lntry joined in 1949, and second as a counter-
- sr rgency/internal security service. The strength of
^3 Portuguese armed forces reached a peak
' 174, when they totalled 282,000 officers and men
,-d defence expenditure accounted for7.4 percent
,':ne gross domestic product (GDP) With the with-
:-:wal from the colonies the total strength was
-:c dly i-educed, and today the Portuguese armed
'-rfces total about 64,000 officers and men with
:eience expenditure accounting for around 4 per
rent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
For many years the Portuguese armed forces
,',ere starved of modern equipment as most of the
-oney went on equipment suitable for use in the
::unter-insurgency and internal security role, espe
: aily inf antry weapons such as rif les, machine-guns
'rdin mortars.
the last few years some modern equipment
-:s started to arrive in Portugal, much of it from
:lner NATO countries including West Germany, the
- K and the United States. There is so much obso
:re equipment still in service, especially with the
.'my and air force, that it will be many years, if at all,
::fore the Portuguese armed forces can be consi
r:red a potent force by NATO standards.
The army
The army has a total strength of 40,000 officers
.^d men, of whom 30,000 are conscripts. This force
. crganized into six territorial commands, of which
': rr are within Portugal itself and the other two are
i : *-Eruese infa n try a r me d with T. 6 2 mm (0. 3 - in )
-
I j :rJ7es sfand jn the rain during a disturbance in
:,e capital. The 1974 coup ousted the Salazar
*"
:atorship and ended the bloody wars in Angola
z;.: .'tozambique thatwere such a drain on
in
rsland commands. An interesting collection of armoured vehicles
Units include one mixed brgade, three cavalry belonging to a regiment which stayed loyal during
regiments, 11 rnfantry regiments, three indepen- the 1 97 5 coup attempt advancing on Lisbon. From
dent infantry battalions, one commando regiment, left to right: an M24 Chaffee, an M47 Main Battle
T ank and a World W ar I I vintage Humber
one anti aircraft regiment, two field artillery regim- armoured car.
enls, one coaslal artillery regirrent, two engineer
regiments. one signals regiment, one military police
Below : The traininEr sft ip Sagres was
regiment, and special forces. commissioned in the Pottuguese navy in 1972.
Most of the modern equipment is issued to the First commissioned in 1938 as a training ship of the
1st lndependent Mixed Brigade, which is ear- Germannavy, itwas takenbytheUSAin 1945 only
marked for NATO deployment. This brigade con to be sold to Brazil in I948, where it served until its
sists of one tank battalron, one mechanized infantry sale to Portugal.
battalion, two infantry battalions, and one artillery
battalion with M109 self propelled howitzers
The tank battalion has one company of M4BASs
with 'l 05-mm {4.13 in) gun, two companies of M47s
with 90-mm (3.54-in) guns, and a reconnaissance
company with M4BA5 tanks, M 1 13A1/M 1 13A2
armoured personnel carriers (including some with
the Hughes TOWATGW system)and M10642 mor-
lar carriers wrth 107-mm (4.2 in) mortars.
Equipment rncludes 27 M47 tanks, 23 M4BA5
tanks f rom West Germany and the United States, 1 1
M24 Chaffee light tanks, 43 Panhard EBR heavy
armoured cars and EBR ETT armoured personnel
carriers, 63 Panhard AML-90 and AML 60 armoured
cars, a small number of Panhard M3 armoured per
sonnel carriers, 32 Ferrer scout cars, 100 M113
armoured personnel carriers (rncluding some with
TOW), nine M557A2 command post vehlcles, 86
Chaimite armoured personnel carriers (bullt in Por-
tugall,24 139 7 mm (5 5-in) towed guns, 36 105-
mm M10141 towed howitzers, l2155 mm (6 1 in)
M10942 self-propelled howitzers, and about 40
coastal artillery weapons of various calibres.
Much of the new equipment (especially the
M 1 13A2 armoured personnel carriers, M 10942
self propelled howitzers, TOWs, trucks and Jeeps) rifles, SS.11 ATGWs mounted on locaLly prodrce3
has been supplied since 1 977 by the USA under the 4x4 Jeeps, and Hughes TOW ATGWs
Military Aid Programme (MAP). For some years Portugal has been i,,irtra i'' se'-
lnfantry weapons include 9-mm Walther P'1 pis sufficient in infantry weapons at least. '," :r \'l::
tols, 9 mm FMBP63 sub-machine guns, 7 62 mm (lndustrias Nacionais de Defesa EPr n a--'ac:,'-l
(0 3-ln) G3 rif les, 7.62-mm NK 21 ,1 .62-mm MG42l the West German Heckler & (ocr C3 -': --:='
59 and 12.7-mm (0 5-in) lr/2 HB Browning machine licence, as well as a cornpleie i-ange := A:--^- 2.i-
guns, locally built 60-mrn (2.36-in) and B1-mm (3.2- ,") and Bl-mr 13.l ;n' ^ on3's i^c l-:' ::--l :.:l
-05 rr
in) FBP mortars, French 120-mm (4.72-ln) Brandt ammunitron. Small arms an-rrln ior ar-c
mortars, 88.9 mm (3.5-in) rocket-launchers, 75-mm artillery ammunition are also manuiactured n Por
(2 95-in) M20 and 106'mm (4.11-in) M40 recoilless tugal, as are 4x4l ght vehicles. while Bravia manu-
 tt1
Armed Forces of the World ( /_-
factures a complete range of 4 x4 and 6xG trucks as
well as the Chaimite 4x4 amphibious armoured
personnel carrier, of which 400 have been butlt for
the home and export markets, and the Commando
4x4 internal security veh cle.
Air-defence weapons include less than 20 Brrtish
Short Blowpipe SAM launchers, 18 West German
Rheinmetall twin 20-mm Rh202 cannon and 20 old
Bofors 40-mm (1.5 in) L 60 anti aircraft guns.

The navy
This has a total strenqth of 15,000 officers and
men including marines, of whom about 4,000 are
conscripts. The main naval bases are at Faro and
Lisbon (Alfelte), and warships lnclude three French
built 'Daphn6' class submarines commissioned be-
tween 1967 and 1969, four'Comandante Joao Belo'
class frigates built in France and commissioned be-
tween 1967 and 1969, three 'Almirante Pereira de
Silva' class frigates built in Portugal and commis-
sioned between 1 966 and 1 968 (these are based on
the American 'Dealey' class escorts and two are
being converted for offshore patrol duties), four
'Baptista de Andrade' class frigates built in Spain
and commlssioned in 1974-5 (these have provision
for the French Exocet MM.38 surface-to-surface
missile, but such have not been fitted), six 'Joao
Coutinho' class frigates commissioned in 1970-1
(three built in Spain and three built in West Ger
many), 10 'Cacine' class large patrol class bullt in
Portugal and commissioned in 1969-73, two 'Dom
Aleixo' class large coastal patrol craft commissioned
in 1967, three Cheverton patrol craft of GRP which
operate at the mouth of the River Tagus, 14 Portu-
guese-built'Albatroz' class coastal patrol craft, and
four Portuguese-built 'Sao Roque' class coastal
minesweepers which are similar to the British 'Ton'
class. Support craft include one landing craft tank,
two 'Bombarda' class landing craft tank, 10 landing
craft mechanized and one landing craft assault.
There are also tugs, survey ships, tankers and har-
bour launches.
The marines total 2,500 off icers and men, lnclud-
ing 1,000 conscripts, and are organized into three
battalions plus supporting units. Equipment rn-
cludes Charmite 4x4 amphibious armoured person
nel carriers and mortars.
Many of the warships of the Portuguese navy are
urgently in need of modernization (including new
sensors and weapons). ln recent years there have
been talks of Portugal purchasing one of the Dutch
'Kortenaer' class frigates, with a further two to be
built under licence. But as with a number of other
such projects, sufficient funds for this proposal have
yet to be found.
Equrpment on order or being delivered to the air
force includes 12 ltalian Agusta A 109A helicopters
of which four will be fitted with the TOW ATGW
system, three Lockheed C-'130 Hercules transports
and a further 30 refurbished Vought A-7 attack air-
craft.
The parachute group consists of one battalion and
two companies.
The Portuguese air force has started to receive
more modern equipment in recent years, especially
with the acquisition f rom the USA of the refurbished
Vouqht A-7 single-seat ai{ack aircraft. The whole
air-defence system is in need of modernization, and
surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns are
needed to protect the airfields.
Reserves and paramilitary forces
Reserves for all three arrns total 1 70,000 officers
and men. Paramilitary forces include 14,600 in the
National Republrcan Guard whose equipment in-
cludes the Bravia Commando Mk lll 4x4 internal
security vehicle, 15,000 in the public security police
and 7,000 in the Fiscal Guard.
The rate of modernization of the Portuguese
armed forces depends on a number of key factors.
These include a steady growth in the economy,
which has failed to happen in recent years, and a
lowering of inflation which reached 3B per cent in
The Portuguese air force has begun to receive
more modern equipment in the last few years,
including 20 refurbished Vought A-7P Corsair II
attack aircra{t. The A-Z can carry up to 6804 kg
(I 5,000 lb) of ordnance.
'1983. NATO is helping with deliveries of more mod-
ern equipment, especially to the army and air force,
but massive deliveries are needed if the Portuguese
armed forces are to be completely re-equipped.
For manyyears the USA has made extensive use
of Lages airf ield in the Azores, and this played a key
role in the resupply of lsrael in the 1973 conflict. lt
would also be most useful to the recently estab-
lished Central Command.
A group of left-wing off icers staged a successful
coup d'etat in April 1 974 and succeeded in ending
the 40-year dictatorship of Salazar. The following
year the communists made a bid for power but
democratic elections took place in 1976 and since
then Portugal has moved more to the right and
become more stable.
Joio Coutinho rs the nameship of a six-strong class
of frigates, of which three were built inWest
Germany and three in Spain. Displacing I ,380 tons
at full load and capable of up to 24.5 kts, whether
they will receive much-needed modernization
remains uncertain.

The air force

This has a total strength of 9,500 officers and men
including the parachute group of '1 ,800; of this total
3,500 are conscripts.
There are three fighter/ground-attack squadrons,
one with 20 Vought A7Ps, one with 20 Aeritalia
G91R/3s and eight G91T/3s, and one with 20 G9'1 R/
4s and two G91T/3s. There is a single reconnaiss-
ance squadron with four Spanish CASA C-2128 air-
craft, and an operational conversion unit with '1
2
Northrop T-38s. Troop transport is provided by one
squadron with five Lockheed C 130H Hercules and
one squadron wlth 12 C-212s. Search and rescue
cover is provided by three squadronl, one with six
C-212s and two with a total of 12 A6rospatiale SA
330 Puma helicopters. There are also two helicopter
squadrons with a total of 37 A6rospatiale Alouette
llls. A total of 32 Reims-Cessna FT8337Gs is used
by two lraison squadrons. There are also three train-
ing squadrons, onewith 30 de Havilland Chipmunks,
..e w,th 24 Cessna T 37Cs and one wrth two C
l- 2.s and ihree A ouette ll helicopters.