The Portuguese Army’s modernisation ambitions
Victor Barreira
As part of the Military Programming Law 2023-2034 approved in July 2023 the Portuguese Army (Exército Português) is undergoing a major modernisation effort aimed strengthening its capabilities in several key domains.
The operational structure of the Portuguese Army is principally comprised of the Rapid Reaction Brigade, the Intervention Brigade, the Mechanised Brigade, the General Support and Military Emergency Forces, and three overseas infantry battalions.
The Military Programming Law 2023-2034 seeks to invest EUR 5.57 billion to modernise the Portuguese military. However, this figure is scheduled to be updated in 2027. The EUR 800 billion ‘ReArm Europe’ plan, unveiled by the European Commission on 4 March 2025, could help Portugal accelerate its acquisition ambitions.
Of the EUR 5.57 billion, a total of EUR 1.236 billion is scheduled to be spent to build the next-generation Portuguese Army, by introducing capabilities over several key domains such as protection, firepower, digitisation, command and control, survivability, situational awareness mobility, and connectivity, to enable the army to be ready to operate and fight. The Army is simultaneously seeking to further develop capabilities such as cyber defence, simulation, and electronic warfare (EW) and to gradually introduce unmanned systems. A breakdown of the Portuguese Army’s scheduled annual spending on modernisation is detailed in Table 1.
| Table 1: Breakdown of the Portuguese Army’s scheduled annual spending on modernisation | |
| Amount budgeted (EUR millions) | Year |
| 90 | 2023 |
| 70.6 | 2024 |
| 75.8 | 2025 |
| 95.8 | 2026 |
| 63.2 | 2027 |
| 85.8 | 2028 |
| 102.1 | 2029 |
| 129.8 | 2030 |
| 132.9 | 2031 |
| 123.3 | 2032 |
| 136.1 | 2033 |
| 130.2 | 2034 |
The equipment modernisation for the Army seeks investment in 12 capacities consisting of 99 projects and sub-projects by 2034. These are broken down in Table 2.
| Table 2: Breakdown of the Portuguese Army’s scheduled spending (2023-2034) by capability | |
| Amount budgeted (EUR millions) | Capability |
| 119 | Command & Control (C2) |
| 98 | Light Forces |
| 405 | Medium Forces |
| 26.9 | Heavy Forces |
| 21.4 | Defence of Archipelagos |
| 7.5 | Special Operations |
| 41.9 | Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) |
| 4.8 | Land transport |
| 159.2 | Protection and survivability |
| 156.6 | Logistic support |
| 113.8 | Emergency military support |
| 90.2 | War stocks |
Included in the modernisation programme is EUR 50 million aimed at acquiring helicopters for protection, evacuation, and support roles; EUR 55.4 million for the modernisation of Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks; EUR 6 million for micro- and mini-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); EUR 8.2 million to acquire counter unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) between by 2034; EUR 297.7 million for the upgrade of Pandur II 8×8 armoured vehicles between 2026 and 2034; EUR 13.6 million to acquire a tracked infantry fighting vehicle fleet to replace the M113A2 carrier as part of the VCI-L (Viatura de Combate de Infantaria de Lagartas) project; EUR 119.5 million to acquire field artillery systems; EUR 126.5 million to procure C2 equipment; as well as EUR 90.2 million for ammunition by 2034.
The acquisition of major weapon systems by the Portuguese Army are principally established by the Forces Planning Division (Divisão de Planeamento de Forças), while the procurement procedures are conducted by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) through the signature of sales agreements, and by the Logistics Command (Comando da Logística). Over the previous year, the Portuguese Army has significantly increased acquisitions through the NSPA.
Other hardware in domains such as C2, ISTAR, logistics support, medical support, space, and cyber defence, will be received as part of joint capabilities projects run by the Ministry of National Defence and the Armed Forces General Staff.
Key procurements
C4ISTAR
To modernise, strengthen, and complement the existing SIC-T communications system, the Army has recently purchased a tactical deployable communication and information system consisting of 16 communications modules. A total of 21 signal shelters were purchased by the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) on behalf of the Portuguese Army, according to a EUR 33.1 million contract awarded to EID on 8 July 2024. Delivery of the first modules is scheduled to take place in 2025, the Army told ESD. The SIC-T solution consists of different node types and a set of associated elements designed to deliver information technology services to users over different domains.
Other recently-introduced equipment included RQ-11 Raven B DDL UAVs, PRC-525 tactical radios, along with TRC-4000E and TRC-4000 high-capacity line-of-sight radios.
Artillery
The year 2024 was particularly significant for the modernisation of the Exército Português, with a contract awarded for self-propelled howitzers (SPHs), under a framework cooperation agreement signed on 26 October 2024 between the Directorate General for National Defence Resources (DGRDN) and the French Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA). The contract, worth approximately EUR 270 million, is for the acquisition of up to 36 KNDS France CAESAR MkII 6×6 155 mm SPHs by 2034, to be supplied through the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act (EDIRPA) fund. The plan to acquire the CAESAR MkII was further confirmed through a Letter of Intent signed on 28 February 2025 in Porto.
Alongside this, efforts are underway to add the NELI ballistic calculation and aiming system from Integrated Defence Solutions and Exail Advans Lyra inertial navigation system to the M119 Light Gun 105 mm towed howitzer of the 10.5 Towed Field Artillery Group (GAC 10.5 Reb) of the Rapid Reaction Brigade. The field artillery capability received some improvement thanks to the procurement of Newcon Optik LRB 6K tripod-mounted laser rangefinder binoculars and Instro Precision iFires integrated targeting systems with the Elbit Systems CORAL-CR tripod-mounted thermal imager.
Air Defence
To strengthen its depleted ground-based air defence (GBAD) capability, Portugal purchased the Thales ForceShield Compact ground-based Very Short-Range Air Defence system (VSHORAD) to replace the obsolete M48A2E1/M48A3 Chaparral missile launchers within the Air Defence Artillery Battalion of the Intervention Brigade and the Air Defence Artillery Battery of the Mechanized Brigade.
The EUR 39 million contract awarded by the NATO Support Procurement Agency (NSPA) to Thales on 23 October 2024 principally included the supply of three RAPIDRanger mobile missile launchers based on the URO VAMTAC ST5 4×4 vehicle platform, the Thales GroundMaster 200 radar and ControlView C2 System (this radar/C2 package collectively referred to as ‘ControlMaster 200’ (CM 200) by Thales), as well as two portable weapon terminals for the existing Stinger man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS), and Thales F@stnet HD VHF radios.
The RAPIDRanger is fitted with the Lightweight Vehicle Mounted Turret (LVMT) from Ultra, and houses a 360° two-axis gyro-stabilised optronic sight and is armed with four missiles (two per side), with compatible munitions comprising the Thales STARStreak high-velocity missile and the Thales Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM; also known as ‘Martlet’). The vehicle also accommodates a C2 workstation, communications, navigation equipment, as well as the ControlView Compact C2 system.
The ForceShield system will be fully delivered to Portugal in October 2026 for acceptance tests and live-fire exercises, Thales told ESD. The contract includes an option for a fourth RAPIDRanger system, a second CM200 unit, and two additional portable weapon terminals.
Portugal has recently joined the multinational European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) to purchase a medium-range air defence system, thus complementing the incoming RAPIDRanger system. The ESSI seeks to coordinate the procurement and interoperability of air-defence systems among its members to protect against the threat of Russian missiles and drones.
Portugal previously acquired the deployable integrated air defence artillery command and control system SICCA3 (Sistema Integrado de Comando e Controlo para a Artilharia Antiaérea). The SICCA3 consist of Teknel’s shelter-based fire detection centre and tactical operations centre equipped with MIL-STD subsystems, two Kerax 4×4 high-mobility trucks, and related trailer-mounted power generator sets and equipment. The Portuguese ForceShield Compact will include the necessary interfaces for a future integration to the existing SICCA3 system.
Light vehicles
Portugal plans to acquire a new tranche of 4×4 light armoured tactical vehicles to complement the existing 139 VAMTAC ST5 vehicles of the Rapid Reaction Brigade acquired from UROVESA (URO Vehículos Especiales) through the NSPA in July 2018 worth EUR 27.3 million. The fleet, consisting of 107 multirole vehicles, 12 special operations vehicles, 13 medical support vehicles, and seven command post vehicles, was received between 2019 and 2021.
Medium-weight vehicles
The Army is seeking to carry out a mid-life upgrade (MLU) of its Pandur II 8×8 vehicle fleet of the Intervention Brigade and simultaneously add a lightweight remote medium-calibre weapon station to several of the infantry carriers. Portugal fields 112 infantry carrier vehicles, 16 command post vehicles, four reconnaissance vehicles, eight ambulances, seven recovery vehicles, 30 infantry fighting vehicles, five anti-tank carrier vehicles, and six communications vehicles meet the wheeled armoured vehicle requirement, the Army told ESD. Pandur IIs are currently deployed to the Central African Republic (CAR) and Romania.
Heavy vehicles
The Army is looking to add a slew of upgrades to the existing fleet of 34 Leopard 2A6 tanks of the Battle Tanks Battalion and the Reconnaissance Squadron of the Mechanised Brigade, by adding a new fire extinguishing system, and an ultra-capacitors (ultracaps) kit to the electrical system, an auxiliary power unit (APU), air conditioning unit, a thermal imager for the driver, and an electric turret and gun control system with digital stabilisation.
Since the tank fleet was received from Royal Netherlands Army surplus in 2008-2009, it was equipped with the PRC-525 radio system, ICC-251 intercom, and the DT10-M multifunctional rugged tablet for the EyeCommand Battleground battle management system.
In return for the delivery of three MBTs to Ukraine in 2023, the German MoD and the Portuguese MoND agreed that Germany would finance the maintenance by KNDS Deutschland of 14 Leopard 2A6 in service with Portugal. Additionally, A tank platoon of five Leopard 2A6s has been integrated with the Spanish Army-led NATO Multinational Battlegroup in Slovakia since July 2024.
In terms of other efforts, the Portuguese Army is looking to procure armoured recovery vehicles (ARVs), armoured vehicle launched bridges (AVLBs), and mobile assault bridging systems.
Logistics and transport
The Army is receiving a fleet of medium tactical logistics trucks acquired through the NSPA to Spain’s Technology and Security Developments (TSD). The contract is designed to meet the Medium Tactical Vehicles project (VTM) and consists of 47 MAN Truck & Bus TGS 18.440 BBCH 4×4 signal shelters carriers (and 15 modular protected cabs) for the tactical communication and information system SIC-T (Sistema de Informação e Comunicações Tático), and 61 MAN Truck & Bus TGS 26.440 BBCH 6×6. Of the 61 6×6 trucks, 28 are configured for general transport without an armoured cab, 13 for general transport with an armoured cab, 16 container carriers with a HIAB X-HiDuo 072 loader crane, and four with the HIAB MULTILIFT hooklift system for a 6,000-litre water tank. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed in March 2026, the Army told ESD.
The VTM’s cabin comes equipped with a towing winch, mounting brackets for assault rifles, the EID’s PRC-525 software-defined tactical multi-band radio with the EID MT-525S single radio system mount and a detachable remote console, and a mount system for a rugged tablet running a Portuguese-made battle management system.
Other recently-incorporated equipment included ACTROS 2041, CF85.460, CF85.510, TGX18.420, FMX540 and FMX420 tractor trucks, along with AFMX520 dump trucks and FMX380 recovery trucks. The Army is also working to procure general-purpose unarmoured 4×4 tactical trucks, as well as 6,000 litre unarmoured 6×6 water tank tactical trucks. Additionally, the Army is looking to procure three retrofitted Sikorsky Aircraft UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, with an option for a fourth.
CBRN
The Army has strengthened its chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) capabilities by acquiring a mobile CBRN decontamination system and a mobile Biological, Chemical and Radiological laboratory. Both are housed in standard 6 m (20 ft) ISO containers, mounted on a FMX420 6×6 truck equipped with the Palfinger PH T17S hookloader.
The Army is also working to procure four light tactical armoured vehicles for the CBRN reconnaissance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) roles.
Special Forces
As part of the Plan for the Implementation of the Special Operations Force (PIFOE), the Army boosted the material capacity of its special operations troops, thanks to a variety of equipment received over the past years, including HK416A5 and HK417A2 assault rifles; AXMC, M107A1, and G28E precision rifles; STF/12 Compact shotguns; MP5 KA4 submachine guns, M2HB-QCB and FN MAG machine guns; HK269 and GMG grenade launchers; M72 rocket launchers; Sportsman MV850, MRZR 2, MRZR D2 and MRZR D4 all-terrain vehicles; VAMTAC ST5, ANAFI USA UAVs; MOSKITO TI target acquisition and surveillance devices; Galaxy S20 TE mobile devices with Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK); Defender 130 TD4 4×4 assault vehicles; AN/PVS-21 night vision goggles; PRC-148 JEM and PRC-525 radios; Carl Gustaf M2U weapons; and the C-Guard Slider portable modular jammer.
Dismounted soldier systems
A key modernisation effort, worth EUR 42 million, seeks to strengthen the firepower, situational awareness, command and control and survivability of the dismounted soldier by 2026. This programme, known as the Soldier Combat Systems SCS (Sistemas de Combate do Soldado) consists of the lethality, survivability and command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) projects.
The lethality element of the project principally resulted in the acquisition of 15,000 FN SCAR-L STD 5.56 × 45 mm assault rifles, 850 FN SCAR-H STD 7.62 × 51 mm assault rifles, 2,000 FN40GL Mk2 40 × 46 mm grenade launchers, 1,000 FN MINIMI Mk3 5.56 mm light machine guns, 400 FN MINIMI Mk3 7.62 mm general-purpose machine guns, 300 Supernova Tactical 12-gauge shotguns and 3,910 G17 Gen5 FS personal defence weapons, CompM4 red dot sights, VCOG 1-6 × 24 and ACOG 3.5 × 35 scopes, THERMIS MK2 thermal scopes, Vario-Ray LP laser light modules, Spear A2 flashlights, Trilobyte helmet lights, and Nexus Bird LR observation and reconnaissance devices.
The survivability element is being met by local companies and includes acquiring clothing, ballistic protection helmets, combat boots, ballistic protection vests, assault bags, individual first aid kit, knew and elbow pads, battle belts, and more.
A number of soldier equipment items have been acquired between 2024 and 2025 through separate contracts awarded by the Logistics Command to local companies as part of the SCS project, including ballistic protection helmets, tactical gloves, ballistic vests, protection eyewear, individual first aid kits, combat clothing, tactical and dump pouches, combat belts, and ammunition holders.
Other recent incorporation of equipment included Carl-Gustaf M3 84 mm recoilless rifles, along with 75 Carl Gustaf M2s modernised to the M2U standard; GMG 40 mm automatic grenade launchers (AGLs); and AN/PVS-14 night vision monoculars.
The Army also seeks to a obtain a tactical infantry simulator; two ground surveillance radar systems; along with 6,107 ballistic protection helmets with side-mounted STANAG 4694/MIL-STD 1913 rails and universal night vision goggle (NVG) shroud. Other items sought include an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system, various micro- and mini-UAVs, loitering munitions, and counter-UAV (C-UAV) systems.
R&D efforts
The Portuguese Army is also taking measures to strengthen Research and Development and Innovation activity (R&D+I) to assist in the service’s modernisation and simultaneously support the local Defence Technological and Industrial Base (DTIB).
A key R&D+I project is the AMIDA-UT (Automated Modelling, Identification and Damage Assessment of Urban Terrain) worth EUR 4.9 million. The project is part of the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) mechanism and seeks to develop modular and scalable software capable of delivering automated target detection and identification, structural damage survey, prediction for CBRN contamination, and digital terrain analysis, all by 2027.
Another R&D+I effort calls for delivering automation and electric propulsion capabilities to the M113A2 troop carrier and developing UAVs, counter-improvised explosive devices (C-IED), UAVs, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and loitering munitions.
The Army is relying on the Recovery and Resilience Facility temporary instrument of the EU Commission, to fund several projects, such as the construction and refurbishment of military housing and education infrastructure. It is also increasing the perimeter protection of the Commando Regiment by installing CCTV systems and utilising autonomous UAVs through the use of 5G technology.
Victor Barreira
Author: Victor Barreira is a defence journalist based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with 25 years of experience writing on defence and technology issues. He previously served in the Portuguese Army for ten years.