Across the month of October the Portuguese Armed Forces have witnessed the start of quite a few programs and investments, the highlight of the month was the signing of a framework deal for 36 French Caesar NG howitzers, but it didn’t end there, from helicopters to munitions, here is it all:
Light Armoured Tactical Vehicles, 1st of October:
With the objective of reinforcing the Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) capabilities the Army received the approval to spend 2.8 million euros in the procurement of Light Armoured Tactical Vehicles (1).
These vehicles will be procured in two variants, Collective Protection (COLPRO) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and it’s financed by the Army’s “Emergency Military Support” project of the Military Programming Law.
The splitting of the budgetary burden is the following:
2024 – 2 225 000 euros
2025 – 601 200 euros
Communication Systems, 1st of October:
Alongside the Light Armoured Vehicles came a spending approval of 2.5 million euros for the purchase of new communication systems for the Army’s Pandur vehicles (2), this is financed by the General Staff of the Armed Forces “Command and Control” project of the Military Programming Law.
The splitting of the budgetary burden is the following: between
2024 – 816 825 euros
2025 – 1 685 236 euros
Munitions, 15th of October:
The Army received the authorization to spend 7.4 million euros for the procurement of ammunition (3), this is financed by the Army’s “War Reserves” project of the Military Programming.
The splitting of the budgetary burden is the following:
2024 – 6 127 634 euros
2025 – 0 euros
2026 – 1 328 670 euros
Polaris MRZR, 15th of October:
The Portuguese Army has signed a contract with CorpDefense for the purchase of 6 Polaris MRZR in its two-seater variant, a deal worth 416 760 euros (4).
The vehicles will equip the Reconnaissance Platoons of the Infantry Battalions from the Madeira and Azores Military Zones.
Azores has two such Battalions, from 1st and 2nd Garrison Regiments, while Madeira has one from the 3rd Garrison Regiment.
Multirole Helicopters, 17th of October:
It’s the return of aviation to the Portuguese Army as the branch got 40.8 million euros to procure new helicopters, including training, support and sustainment (5).
The program is financed under the “Support, Protection and Evacuation Helicopters’ (Helicópteros de Apoio, Proteção e Evacuação; HAPE) project, a new addition to the Portuguese Army under the Military Programming Law approved in 2023.
The splitting of the budgetary burden is the following:
2024 – 9 771 367 euros
2025 – 1 900 000 euros
2026 – 4 643 041 euros
2027 – 10 569 106 euros
2028 – 12 950 407 euros
2029 – 1 033 331 euros
The helicopters will integrate the Rapid Reaction Brigade (Brigada de Reação Rápida) as stated by its commander during the 19th anniversary of the unit, speaking in and about Tancos, the Brigadier-General stated the following (5):
“responsibilities that could now be expanded with the installation of the Army’s support, protection and evacuation helicopter unit”
As for the number of helicopters, the expected number is a purchased of 3 helicopters, with an additional aircraft as an option to buy, the numbers come from a DN interview with Portugal’s Defense Minister, Nuno Melo, in early October, he further stated that deliveries are expected to start in 2026 (7).
Overall, under the new Military Programming Law (MPL) 2023-34 the program has a total budget of 50 million euros, previously the program belonged to the Air Force being added to the MPL in 2019 with a budget of 53 million euros and seeking to acquire 5 helicopters.
P-3C CUP+ update, 23rd of October:
The Portuguese Air Force P-3C CUP+ fleet is also getting additional updates for its acoustic system in a contract amendment worth 6.2 million euros (8).
Back in February 2022 the Air Force had been authorized to spend 16.7 million euros for the upgrade of the Orion fleet via the integration of IFF Mode 5 and Link-16 Crypto-Modernization (9), all of these is currently contracted with the Canadian Government and executed by General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada.
The Portuguese Air Force has 5 P-3C CUP+ in service with Squadron 601 “Wolfs” (Lobos) and has recently purchased the entire German Navy fleet of Orion’s.
Caesar framework contract, 26th of October:
The highlight of the month, Portugal has signed a framework deal with France for the procurement of up to 36 Caesar NG howitzers, with deliveries up until 2034.
The French embassy has also stated (10) that this deal is eligible to receive funding from the European Union under the EDIRPA (European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act).
You can read more on this story here
RapidRanger, 26th of October:
The same day, on an Instagram post promoting the Army-Expo undergoing in Guarda, it was announced that the RapidRanger would be the future air defense system, replacing the retired Chaparral.
The following day, CMTV released an interview with the Portuguese Army Chief of Staff, General Eduardo Mendes Ferrão, in which he stated that the contract for the RapidRanger had already been signed the past week, including radar and a first batch of missiles (11), this contract is however yet to be made public.
You can read more on the this here
Thermal monoculars, 30th of October:
The Portuguese Army received authorization to modify an existing contract for the purchase of thermal monoculars via the NATO Support Procurement Agency (NSPA).
The contract aimed to procure 332 monoculars at a cost of ~5.5 million euros, the modification will allow the Army to procure more systems but at a reduced cost of up to ~2.9 million euros (12).
Sources:
1 https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/11564-2024-889491625
2 https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/11565-2024-889491626
3 https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/12124-2024-890820742
4 https://www.base.gov.pt/Base4/pt/detalhe/?type=contratos&id=10987619
5 https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/12269-2024-891107866
8 https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/12602-2024-892306413
9 https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/2339-2022-179500445
10 https://pt.ambafrance.org/Franca-e-Portugal-assinam-projecto-para-a-aquisicao-conjunta-do-sistema-de
12 https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/12880-2024-893862039