Portugal erhöht seine Verteidigungsausgaben um 5,8 Milliarden Euro. Verwendung der SAFE-Mittel der EU zum Kauf italienischer Fremm-Fregatten, spanischer und deutscher Fahrzeuge sowie finnischer Satelliten.

The Portuguese minister of defense, Nuno Melo, has announced the countries which will supply the new equipment and weapon systems for Lisbon’s armed forces: They’ll be Italy, France, Finland, Germany, Spain and Belgium. Said partner countries will supply the Portuguese Armed Forces with equipment worth a total of 5,8 billion euros within 2030; these rearmament programmes will be financed by the European SAFE scheme, which aims to strengthen the industrial and defense capabilities of the European Union through the acquisition of military equipment produced by the member states of the old continent, a programme which has recently included Canada as well.

All three of the Portuguese armed forces will benefit from the investment; the Marinha will obtain three new frigates by the [the Italian] Fincantieri which will supply a dedicated version of the FREMM EVO frigate; the Exército will mostly receive new wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, with the prime candidates being the 8×8 Boxer IFVs by [the German] KNDS, and light armored vehicles, those being the VAMTAC ST5 by the Spanish UROVESA; the Forca Aérea will receive drones and Search And Rescue satellites by the Finnish ICEYE.

The keystone for this investment of historical significance will be the involvement of Portugal’s national industry and the consequent monetary returns, following the example previously laid by Lisbon with the C-390 Millenium and the A-29N Super Tucano programmes managed in collaboration with [the Brazilian] Embraer which saw a considerable involvement of the Portuguese aircraft industries.

For what concerns the naval programme, a large role has been laid out for the Arsenal of Alfeite which will guarantee the technical and maintenance support for the new frigates for their entire operational lifetime, which will require a significant investment in the personnel and the infrastructure of the arsenal.

For the armored vehicles Portugal also aims to obtain a native production line which will continue to stay active for their maintenance. Even in the satellite programme Lisbon’s governament wants to increase the participation of their national industries.

The SAFE investment plan has been presented by Lisbon’s government to the European Commission within the 30 November deadline, together with the ones of the other 18 member countries; within this year’s end the various national plans will then be evaluated to confirm their adherence to the SAFE initiative and its regulations.

The European Commission will then give its green light which will then be ratified by the Council of Europe which will then provide the first tranche of funds, worth 15% of the total funds required; this cash will be given back in a 45-year period, with fixed interest rate of 3%. The member countries will begin the programmes financed by SAFE starting from next year.

Written by Aurelio Giansiracusa, first published by Ares Osservatorio Difesa 04/12/2025, manually translated by u/minos83.

I’m surprised they’ve gone for FREMM! I thought a lower end ship like Type 31 or FDI would get it, this is a really huge step up in capability for them. Great news though, the more the merrier really

I will love to find out who got the kickbacks.

Fremm EVO is a jewel well done

Great, now can Ireland follow suit please? It’s fuckin embarrassing how little we can protect our own waters.

It’d be nice to see some of that actually spent in Portugal for a change. (And I don’t mean some of those having an office here just to have a portuguese fiscal ID number.)

Unless I’m blind I didn’t see what’s their plan for air defence, and specifically drone defence, which is the gaping hole of European defence