“We are Soldiers of Portugal”, a video showing the materials of the Portuguese Army

@DefAviation ES 6·21·2023 · 22:19 0

Portugal is a country with a long history and, like its neighbor Spain, belongs to NATO. But what means does your Army have?

Multifunctional Naval Platform: the small aircraft carrier that Portugal is building
The Castanheira Battery: a World War II era artillery position in the Azores

According to data from "The Military Balance 2022" from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Portuguese Army has 13,700 soldiers and a mobilizable force of 210,000 reservists. It is made up of three brigades: one mechanized, one intervention and one rapid reaction. Likewise, it has permanent contingents in the Azores and Madeira.

In January, the Portuguese Army published a very interesting video entitled "We are Soldiers of Portugal", which shows the missions it carries out and also some of its material, from light weapons to vehicles (the video is available in Portuguese, you can activate the automatic subtitles in English in the bottom bar of the player):

You can see some screenshots of this video below.

A Leopard 2A6. The Portuguese Army received 37 tanks of this type, a few months ago they donated three of them to Ukraine.

A Pandur II armored personnel carrier. The Portuguese Army received 188 vehicles of this type, in various versions. The most numerous (105 vehicles in total) is the infantry transport version seen here.

A railway convoy with Pandur II armored vehicles. These vehicles are used by the Portuguese Army Intervention Brigade. This vehicle is also used by the Corpo de Fuzileiros, the naval infantry unit of the Portuguese Navy.

An M-113 armored vehicle. The Portuguese Army has 311 vehicles of this type, in different variants: personnel carrier, command, mortar carrier, antitank and ambulance.

Soldiers of the Portuguese Army descending with ropes from a Portuguese Air Force AgustaWestland AW101 helicopter. Unlike the land forces of other countries, the Portuguese Army does not have its own helicopters. The ones he uses are operated by the Portuguese Air Force.

Two VAMTAC ST-5s and a Mercedes Unimog 435 truck of the Portuguese Blue Helmets in the Central African Republic. The Portuguese Army acquired 139 VAMTAC ST-5 from the Spanish company Urovesa, in four different variants: troop transport, special operations, command and ambulance.

A VAMTAC ST-5 in armored ambulance version. The Portuguese Army acquired this type of vehicle before the Spanish Army.

An M-113 firing a TOW anti-tank missile. The Portuguese Army has 17 armored vehicles of this type equipped with TOW missile launchers.

Soldiers of a Portuguese Army Cavalry Regiment, with their characteristic black berets. The rifles are the 5.56mm FN SCAR-L STD, purchased in 2019.

Two Portuguese paratroopers in the Central African Republic. Like the soldiers in the previous photo, they wear uniforms with the new M18 camouflage, introduced in 2018 to replace the traditional British DPM used by the Portuguese Army for decades . The M18 is a derivative of the famous Multicam, with some features similar to the German Flecktarn.