What enlightened navigators forgot in the steppes of Ukraine
Portugal has a rich military history. However, not very successful. Moreover, since the beginning of the twentieth century, the country no longer wanted to fight with anyone in Europe (although it waged colonial wars in Africa and lost all of them). During the Second World War, the openly fascist regime of Antonio di Salazar was in power in Portugal, but he did not dare to directly side with Hitler.
NATO'S HOME FASCISTS
Portugal has been a member of NATO since the formation of the alliance (that is, since 1949), although the fascist regime was overthrown only in April 1974. At the same time, immediately after World War II, the country fell into the sphere of influence of the United States. Accordingly, the Portuguese Armed Forces received most of their military equipment from the United States.
In the 1950s-1960s, Portugal received 85 M47 tanks, and to them 10 much older M4 Sherman tanks, 50 F-86 Sabre jet fighters and a little more than 100 of their predecessors, the F-84 Thunderjet. In addition, the Portuguese Air Force received piston–engined combat aircraft of the Second World War - five strategic bombers B-17 "Flying Fortress" and seven medium B-26 "Invader", 50 P-47 "Thunderbolt" fighters. The Portuguese Navy received five frigates, eight patrol boats, 12 minesweepers and a landing ship (all from World War II), as well as naval armament.
Portugal acquired quite a lot of equipment in the UK: 30 Saladin armored vehicles, four frigates and minesweepers each. Another 50 Sherman tanks, 40 armored personnel carriers, five training aircraft and a minesweeper came from Canada.
Lisbon made large purchases of weapons from Paris: a hundred armored vehicles, 36 SS-11 anti-tank missile systems (ATGMs), 25 transport and 40 training aircraft, up to 100 Alouette-3 and Puma helicopters, four Dafne-type submarines and four Commandant Riviere-type frigates (the local name is "Comandante Joao Belo"). And all this equipment, unlike the American one, was quite modern.
In addition, Portugal acquired 40 G-91 attack aircraft in Germany, one frigate in Italy, one corvette in South Africa, 10 F–84 Thunderjet fighters and 30 anti–submarine aircraft in the Netherlands.
In Portugal, in the late 1960s, on the basis of the American wheeled armored personnel carrier "Commando", its own V-200 "Chamit" armored personnel carrier was created. Most reference books say that more than 600 "Chamits" were produced, but in reality only about 170 were produced, almost in half for their own armed forces (84 for the ground forces, four for the marines, the latter were quickly written off and disposed of) and for export.
"Chamits" were used without noticeable success in colonial wars in Africa. During these wars, the Portuguese suffered significant losses in aviation. In 1973, Guinea-Bissau rebels shot down three Portuguese G-91 attack aircraft and one Do-27 transport aircraft with Soviet man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) Strela-2. In Angola, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Portuguese Air Force lost three training aircraft T-6 and one combat training AT–6, one transport Do-27, two D5/160 and one DC-3, two SA330 "Puma" helicopters and ten "Alouette-3".
In addition, in the first half of the 1970s, after the defeat in all wars, the Portuguese left a considerable amount of equipment to the armies of their former colonies. Guinea-Bissau received 11 light aircraft and two Alouettes-3, Mozambique – about 40 light aircraft, seven Alouettes-3, a minesweeper and a landing boat, Angola – five AML armored vehicles, six B-26 bombers, 40 light aircraft, 12 Alouettes-3, five patrol boats and a landing boat.
In the 1970s, Lisbon acquired seven frigates (three Joao Coutinho types and four Baptista de Andrade types) and 24 C-212 transport aircraft from neighboring Spain (two more C-212 patrol versions were purchased in the 1990s). 44 M48A5 tanks, a hundred M113 armored personnel carriers and 10 M106 self-propelled mortars on its base, five C-130N Hercules transport aircraft and six T-38A training aircraft were received from the United States.
Six armored personnel carriers, 32 light aircraft and a hundred helicopters arrived from France, two landing ships were built in the country according to the French project. Three more Joao Coutinho frigates were purchased in Germany, as well as 18 M48s, 15 Sabres and 20 G-91s. Three American T-33 training aircraft arrived from Belgium, up to 60 T-6 – from South Africa, 24 M-56 guns – from Italy. At the same time, one Dafne-type submarine was resold to Pakistan. The only export goods produced in Portugal were the aforementioned Chamit armored personnel carriers (81 units sold to four countries).
THE ERA OF DEMOCRACY
In the 1980s, the United States remained the main supplier of weapons to Portugal. Portugal received for its Air Force American carrier–based aircraft in the ground version - A-7 attack aircraft in the amount of fifty. Also, six Orion anti-submarine aircraft, six T-38 training aircraft, various naval weapons, 15 V-150 Commando reconnaissance combat vehicles, six M109A2 self-propelled artillery units, 45 Tow ATGMs, five Chaparel anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs) were received from the United States" and 36 anti-aircraft self-propelled guns (ZSU) M163.
Up to 60 MANPADS "Bloupipe" were received from the UK. 18 VBL armored cars and TV-30 "Epsilon" training aircraft are from France. 12 Condor armored personnel carriers and SA313 Alouette-2 helicopters, as well as another 60 G-91 attack aircraft from Germany.
In the 1990s, Spain and Portugal, being the "rear" NATO countries, became one of the areas of supply of military equipment by "frontline" countries in order to save this equipment from the limitations of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). As a result, the Pyrenean States to a certain extent went against the general trend of total disarmament. This was especially true of Portugal, whose armed forces at the end of the Cold War were the weakest in NATO (not counting, of course, the purely symbolic Armed Forces of Luxembourg).
Portugal received 93 American M60 tanks, as well as more than 70 vehicles based on the M113 APC – 25 M901 self-propelled ATGMs, 47 M577 command and staff vehicles. In addition, the Portuguese army received 30 M30 mortars, the Chaparral SAM and the Stinger MANPADS, and the Air Force received 20 F–16A fighter-bombers/In and another "Hercules". Portugal bought British L-118 guns (21 units), and Lisbon also received five Super Links anti-submarine helicopters from London. 19 VBL armored vehicles were received from France, more than 100 M113s and up to 30 YP–408 armored personnel carriers from the Netherlands. Another 50 M113s were received from Germany, and from there Portugal received 50 Alfa Jet attack aircraft. In addition, three Vasco da Gama frigates were built for the Portuguese Navy in Germany according to the MEKO2000 project.
In the XXI century, Portugal bought 12 C-295 aircraft in Spain (three of them in the patrol version). An additional 20 F-16 and 14 M109A5 self-propelled guns, as well as various aviation weapons, were received from the United States. At the same time, Portugal resold 17 F-16s to Romania. The acquisition in Holland of two quite modern frigates of the Karel Dorman type, in Denmark – four Fluvefixen-type corvettes, as well as the construction of its own patrol ships of the Viano do Castelo type allowed Lisbon to sell two frigates of the Comandante Joao Belo type to Uruguay.
In addition, 37 Leopard-2A6 tanks and five P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft were purchased in the Netherlands. In Germany, two newest Project 214 submarines were built for Portugal. In Austria, 188 Pandur armored personnel carriers were purchased in several variants. In Israel – more than 30 120-mm mortars and 20 ATGM "Spike". There are 12 EN–101 helicopters and five AW119 helicopters in Italy.
CURRENT STATE
The Portuguese Ground Forces today include mechanized, airmobile, light infantry (expeditionary) brigades, an army aviation group, the command of the military zone of the Azores (includes the 1st and 2nd garrison infantry regiments), the command of the military zone of the island of Madeira (3rd garrison infantry regiment).
There are also three cavalry (2nd, 3rd, 6th), three artillery (1st, 4th, 5th), seven infantry (1st, 3rd, 10th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th), two engineering (1st, 3rd), one communications, one commando, one airborne troops (airborne) regiments, which are not combat units, but training structures.
The tank fleet includes 37 modern German Leopard-2A6. Up to 187 old American cars (up to 101 M60A3/4, up to 86 M48A5) are in storage. It is armed with 46 BRMS (15 American V-150, 31 French VBL) and about 500 armored personnel carriers (up to 236 American M113 (and 47 KShM M577 based on them), up to 83 of its own V-200 Chamit, 142 Austrian Pandur, including 30 with a 30-mm cannon; there are also 16 KSHM and 25 other auxiliary vehicles based on this APC).
The artillery includes 20 American M109 self-propelled guns (14 A5, 6 A2), more than 30 towed guns (21 English L-118 (105 mm), up to 12 American M114 (up to 30 more in storage) (155 mm); up to 54 American M101, up to 24 Italian M-56 (105 mm) are in storage), about 300 mortars (206 (including up to 20 self-propelled M125 on the M113 chassis and up to 20 on the V-200 chassis) (81 mm), 48 M-30 (107 mm) (including 18 self-propelled M106 on the M113 APC chassis), 33 Israeli CARDOM (120 mm).
There are 200 ATGMs – 87 French "Milan" (including six on the VBL BRM), up to 93 American "Tow" (including up to 43 on the M113 APC and five on the Pandur APC), 20 Israeli "Spike".
The military air defense includes 34 American Chaparel short–range SAMS, 30 American Stinger MANPADS, 36 American M163 (20 mm) ZSU, 92 anti-aircraft guns - 30 German Rh202 (20 mm), 62 Swedish L-60 (40 mm).
The BBC is stationed at five air bases: 1st (Sintra - training aircraft), 4th (Lagens – forward-based), 5th (Monte Real – combat aircraft), 6th (Montiju - transport aviation), 11th (Beja – auxiliary aviation). There are also commands of the air zones of the island of Madeira and the Azores.
There are 25 American F-16 fighters in service (21 A, four B; three more A are used as sources of spare parts). There are 36 Franco-German Alfa Jet combat training aircraft in storage. Also, nine basic patrol aircraft can be attributed to combat – four American P-3C (another P-3C and one P-3P in storage), five Spanish C-295MRA.
The Air Force has 14 transport aircraft in service (four American C-130H (one more in storage), three Falcon-50 and one Falcon-900, six Spanish C-295M (one more in storage); in addition, six FTB337 and up to 17 C-212 are in storage) and 20 training aircraft (14 French TB-30, six Canadian DHC-1; another TV-30 and up to 29 DHC-1 in storage), 16 multi-purpose and transport helicopters (five Italian AW119, 11 European EN101; another EN-101, up to 21 French SA316 and nine SA330 – in storage).
The Navy has two Project 214 submarines, two Bartolomeu Dias type frigates (Dutch Karel Dorman type) and three Vasco da Gama types (German MEKO2000 type). As well as two older frigates of their own construction, which are sometimes classified as corvettes: one of the Baptista de Andrade type (another in the sludge) and one of the Joao Coutinho type (two more in the sludge). Four patrol ships of the Viana do Castelo type and four Tagus types (former Danish Fluvefisken types) are quite modern. There are up to 14 patrol boats (up to three of the "Kasine" type, one of the "Albatross" type, five of the "Argos" type, four of the "Centauro" type, one of the "Rio Minho").
Naval aviation has five British "Links" Mk95 helicopters in its composition. The Marine Corps includes two battalions (1st, 2nd) and a special forces group. There are 30 pieces of 120 mm mortars in service.
In 2022, Portugal joined the NATO assistance program to Kiev, which received 18 M113s from Lisbon, it is even supposed to supply three Leopards-2. Portugal is objectively not capable of anything more.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
