Beginnings The remote origins of the Portuguese Air Force lie in the origins of the Portuguese military aeronautics. Portugal was directly linked with the history of
aeronautics since its early beginnings. In 1709, the Portuguese priest
Bartolomeu de Gusmão requested a
patent for a device to move through the air, which consisted of a kind of
hot air balloon. The patent was granted on 19 April 1709 and small scale models of this device were tested with success on several occasions, including before the court of King
John V of Portugal. Accordingly, with some opinions, a real scale device would have performed a crewed flight over the city of Lisbon, taking off from the
São Jorge Castle and landing at the
Cotovia Hill. This may have been the first manned flight in history. In 1876, General Augusto Bon de Sousa proposed the use of
aerostats as means of observation and communication. This proposal was implemented in 1886, with the beginning of the use of
Lachambre balloons by the Army Engineering School at Tancos. The organization of the Army Telegraphic Service of 1900 assigned it the charge for the aerostation service, namely the specific competency for establishing air communications. The history of the Portuguese military aviation proper is deeply connected with the foundation of the Air Club of Portugal (AeCP) on 11 December 1909, by 30 aviation enthusiasts, the majority of them being Army officers. The AeCP became one of the major boosters of the development of aviation in Portugal in the early 20th century, including its military use. The AeCP sponsored Abeillard Gomes da Silva in the design and building of the first Portuguese
airplane, financed by the
War Ministry and tested at the Army School of Engineering,
Tancos on 13 January 1910. Despite the previous use of balloons by the Portuguese Army, its first flying unit was only created in 1911, in the scope of the military reorganisation that occurred that year. This unit was the Aerostation Company (), which was part of the Army Telegraphic Service and was intended to operate observation aerostats. This unit would later receive a handful of airplanes. In 1912, the
Portuguese Government received its first airplane, a
Deperdussin B, offered by the Portuguese-born Colonel Albino Costa of the
Brazilian Army. The Government further received a
Maurice Farman MF4 offered by the
O Comércio do Porto newspaper and an
Avro 500 offered by the
Portuguese Republican Party. These aircraft would be integrated in the Aerostation Company, but remained for years without use because of the non-existence of pilots. Still in 1912,
midshipman Miguel Freitas Home of the
naval purser branch applied for admission to any course that would qualify him as an aviator. He was the first member of the Portuguese Military to formally request to be an aircraft pilot. In the same year, by request of the AeCP, the legislator
António José de Almeida presented a
bill to the
Portuguese Parliament for the creation of a Military Aviation Institute. Despite the non-approval of the bill, the War Ministry appointed an
ad hoc commission, made up of officers of the Army and Navy (including some members of the AeCP), intended to study the basis for the creation of aviation, balloon and
airship schools. By the Army Order of 12 February 1913, this became the permanent Military Aeronautics Commission, attached to the Army Telegraphic Service. Finally, the Parliament issued Law 162 of 14 May 1914, which created the Military Aeronautics School (EMA, ), including aviation and aerostation services. The EMA would include a Staff, aeronautical troops (including the Aerostation Company and a Navy Section), and technical and support staff. The Law foresaw the existence of a Military Aeronautical Service from which the EMA would be dependent. However, while the Aeronautical Service was still not organized, the EMA would be under the inspection of the chairman of the Military Aeronautics Commission. After the formal creation of the EMA, the next steps were to implement it. One of the first steps was to train aviators to serve as the future instructors, with 11 officers being selected for that (nine from the Army and two from the Navy) and sent to several U.S., French, and British aviation schools, where they were certified as aircraft pilots. Another important step was the building of the facilities for the EMA. The study of the Military Aeronautics Commission pointed to
Alverca as the best option to install the school, with Vila Nova da Rainha (a village of the
Azambuja Municipality) as the second best option. Both places satisfied the requests of being located in flat grounds (allowing the installation of
airfield and
hangars), in the riverside (allowing the operation of
seaplanes) and near the railway (facilitating the communications). Due to budget restraints, the second option was chosen, with the construction of the EMA installations starting at Vila Nova da Rainha on 15 April 1915. On 17 July 1916, lieutenant Santos Leite performed the first Portuguese military airplane flight, in the Deperdussin B that had been offered in 1912. EMA and its first course was opened in October of the same year, with naval lieutenant aviator
Sacadura Cabral as the chief of the pilots and with Major
aeronautical engineer Ribeiro de Almeida as the chief of mechanics. The first students started flying in November, with Army lieutenant
Sarmento de Beires being the first one. During
World War I, an air unit was planned as part of the
Portuguese Expeditionary Corps fighting on the
Western Front, but its activation was cancelled due to the refusal from the British Government to provide the needed aircraft. With this cancellation, several of the Portuguese airmen who were to integrate that air unit, instead volunteered to fly in French aviation units, where they had the
baptism by fire of the Portuguese military aviation. Serving in French squadron
SPA 65, in November 1917, Captain
Óscar Monteiro Torres became the first Portuguese pilot to be killed in an air combat when his
SPAD S.VII was shot down after himself having shot down two German planes. In
Mozambique, in the
operations against German Eastern Africa, from September 1917, the Portuguese forces included a small flight of
Farman F.40 airplanes, this being one of the earliest employments of military aircraft in Africa. In 1918, a flight of
Caudron G.4 was also deployed to Angola to support the Portuguese forces engaged in the
South-West Africa campaign, but arrived after the end of the conflict. This flight however gave origin to a permanent air unit based in Angola. The Portuguese Navy started to have its own aviation service on 28 September 1917, although by that time it already had flying activities performed by the Navy Section of the EMA. The Army's Military Aeronautical Service was also finally fully organized on 29 June 1918, in the scope of which the EMA was to be subdivided in separate aviation and aerostation schools and the
first Portuguese aircraft factory was established.
The Military Aeronautics By the Decree 4529 of 29 June 1918, the Portuguese Army's Military Aeronautical Service () – already foreseen when the Military Aeronautics School was created in 1914 – was organised. It included the Directorate of Military Aeronautics, the Military Aeronautics Technical Commission, the Military School of Aviation, the Military School of Aerostatics, the aeronautical troops and the
Aeronautical Materiel Park (PMA). The Directorate of Military Aeronautics was headed by a senior officer (pilot aviator, aerostat pilot or aeronautical engineer), who directly reported to the War Minister. The aeronautical troops would include aviation and aerostatics units, including the already existing Aerostatics Company and the newly created Composite Aviation Depot Flight (EMAD). The EMAD was responsible to train pilots and observers and to prepare the creation of future air units, being initially installed at Alverca and then transferred to Tancos, where an airfield was built to serve as its base. The PMA, installed at Alverca, was the precursor of the still existing OGMA aviation industry.
Army Artillery Light aviation The separation of the Military Aeronautics from the Portuguese Army did not bring an end to the aviation in this branch, as the Army activated and maintained for a brief period of time a small separate aviation service. This service originated in the need identified by the Army to continue to keep an
aviation service equipped with light aircraft under its direct control, for the artillery air observation role. Plans were then made to create the artillery observation light aviation as part of the artillery arm and so separated from the Military Aeronautics. In 1952 - at the same time that the Military Aeronautics was becoming independent, ending its links to the Army - the Army Minister Abranches Pinto boosted the activation of this light aviation service, with the acquisition of 22
Piper L-21 Super Cub observation and liaison aircraft and the sending of artillery officers to be trained as pilot-observers at the
US Army aviation schools. At the same time, an airfield was built in the grounds of the Army Artillery School at
Vendas Novas, to serve as the base for this unit. Eight of the L-21 became permanently based at Vendas Novas, being piloted by the few available pilot-observers of the artillery arm and used in the observation and direction of artillery fire against targets beyond the visual range of the ground observers. The remaining aircraft were only used in large Army maneuvers, when they were piloted by Air Force pilots. By the influence of the US Army aviation doctrine, the concept of Army light aviation evolved and it was anticipated that it would also be equipped with
helicopters and it would have other missions beyond the artillery observation. The process of the raising of the Army light aviation was however terminated in 1955, with its mission being assumed by the Air Force. The Army L-21 were then transferred to the Air Force, where they formed an Army cooperation flight based at the Tancos Air Base.
The Independent Air Branch provided training for FAP pilots The creation of the independent air branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces occurred in the scope of the deep military and defence reforms implemented in Portugal, arising from the lessons learned in World War II, from the Portuguese participation in NATO and from the Cold War. By the Decree-law 37909 of 1 August 1950, the Portuguese Government was reorganised and started to include the role of
Minister of National Defense and, under this, the role of Undersecretary of State for the Aeronautics ( or SEA) to be only filled upon the reorganisation of the air forces. The status of the Government member responsible for the air forces is however inferior to those responsible for the Navy and the Army, who keep the rank of ministers. Besides foreseeing already the existence of an independent air force, this act created
de facto the Portuguese Armed Forces as an integrated organisation encompassing the Navy, the Army and the foreseen third branch, establishing an unified chain of command for all the branches, under the military coordination of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
The air branch becomes the Portuguese Air Force On 7 July 1955,
Kaulza de Arriaga was appointed to be the first Undersecretary of State of Aeronautics. This Army engineer officer will mark the deep development of the air branch. After the experience acquired in four years as an independent branch of the Armed Forces, the air forces suffer an important reorganisation, through the Decree-law 40949 of 26 December 1956. In the scope of this reorganisation, the branch receives the alternative name of "Air Force", which will prevail over "Military Aeronautics", with this last designation falling into disuse. From then on, the branch will be known as the "Portuguese Air Force" (FAP, ). The title of the military head of the FAP slightly changes from "Chief of Staff of the Air Forces" to "Chief of Staff of the Air Force". The General Command of the Air Forces and the Directorate General of the Under-Secretariat of State were disbanded, being replaced by the Air Force Staff (EMFA, ). The air regions and zones - that were already foreseen when the independent air branch was created - are finally created, with the transitory Command of the Operational Air Forces and the Air Forces Instruction and Training Command being disbanded. In its respective territories of jurisdiction, each air region command is responsible for the mobilisation of personnel and other resources for the Air Force, for the air defence, for the air cooperation with land and naval forces and for the air transports. The air zones commands are responsible for the air defense, cooperation with the land and naval forces and other functions delegated on them by its parent air region command. The Portuguese national metropolitan and
overseas territory is divided in the following air regions and zones: • 1st Air Region, Lisbon - covering
Continental Portugal, the
Azores,
Madeira,
Portuguese Guinea and
Cape Verde; • Continental Portugal and Madeira Air Zone - commanded directly by the 1st Air Region command; • Azores Air Zone - covering the Azores isles; • Cape Verde Air Zone - covering the Cape Verde islands and latter also the Portuguese Guinea, becoming the Cape Verde and Guinea Air Zone. • 2nd Air Region,
Luanda - covering
Angola and
São Tomé and Príncipe; • 3rd Air Region,
Lourenço Marques - covering
Mozambique,
Portuguese India,
Macau and
Portuguese Timor. , based at Monte Real from 1959 Meanwhile, the foreseen warning system is developed and their infrastructures built, becoming the Air Defence System (SDA, ). Originally, it was planned to include a central command and a network of
radar sites. The first radar site at Montejunto is activated in 1955 and the central command infrastructures in
Monsanto, Lisbon are activated in 1956, with other radar sites being activated in the following years. The final organisation and architecture of the SDA are clarified in 1957. It comes to include: • GDACI 1 - No 1 Detection, Warning and Interception Direction Group: • 10 Squadron, Monsanto Mounts, Lisbon - Sector Operations Centre; • 11 Squadron,
Montejunto Mountains - detection and control radar station; • 12 Squadron,
Pilar peak, Paços de Ferreira - detection and control radar station; • 13 Squadron,
Serra da Estrela peak - detection and control radar outpost; • 14 Squadron,
Fóia Mountain - detection and control radar station (foreseen, but only activated many years later) The GDACI 1 covered Continental Portugal and was under the command of the 1st Air Region. A GDACI 2 under the command of the Azores Air Zone, with radar sites on Terceira Island (21 Squadron) and
Santa Maria Island (22 Squadron), was also foreseen, but it was never activated. The possible integration of units of
paratroopers in the air forces was already foresee in the legislation which created the independent air branch in 1952. On 9 July 1955, a group of 188 Portuguese military personnel receives the paratrooper brevet in the Spanish Military Parachute School at
Alcantarilla, in the graduation ceremony these elements being awarded with
green berets, becoming the first
beret users in the Portuguese Armed Forces. By the Decree 40 395 of 23 November 1955, the
Portuguese Paratroopers are finally organised. The Paratroopers were part of the SEA, but were under the command of the Ministry of the Army for the purpose of its employment in the ground and respective training. The initial unit - the Paratroopers Battalion - was activated on 1 January 1956, being barracked at Tancos, with the nearby Air Base No 3 being responsible to provide the means for its air transportation and launching. The organisation of these troops would be adjusted by the Decree 42 073 of 31 December 1958, ceasing its links to the Army, with the Paratroopers becoming under the complete command of the Air Force, where they will stay until 1993. The organisation of the FAP suffers an adjustment defined by the Decree-law 41492 of 31 December 1957. Among other adjustments, this act terminated with the separation between the Land Air Forces and the Naval Air Forces branches, creating an unified establishment for the FAP. While the officers aviators of the Land Air Forces were automatically integrated in the unified establishment, the officers aviators of the Naval Air Forces would only integrate in it if they expressly required, returning to the Navy establishment if not. Many of the naval aviators opted to maintain themselves in the Navy, with some of them remaining however in extraordinary deployment in the Air Force until reaching the limit of age or rank. The last remaining Navy aviators would leave FAP in the early 1960s. In March 2025, this changed: the Portuguese Defense Minister deemed a potential F-35 procurement unlikely because of recent changes in US foreign policy. Eleven months later, the US ambassador to Portugal nevertheless pushed Portugal to order F-35s. In June 2024, the Portuguese Defense Minister
Nuno Melo announced the prioritization of acquiring the
A-29N Super Tucano, an advanced light attack and training aircraft from Embraer. Melo confirmed that the aircraft would be adapted by the Portuguese industry to operate within NATO standards, with €180.5 million allocated for this acquisition and several units ready for swift delivery upon contract finalization additionally Minister Nuno announced July 30 2025 Portugal would join the 6th gen European fighter program. ==General organization==