Reply With QuoteWhen was the last time Portugal deployed on something like this, unilaterally? 1974?
Portuguese Task Force mobilized to Guinea-Bissau
A Portuguese Air Force plane, P3C-Orion, has take off from Beja Air Base with the primary mission to collect reliable information about the current situation that we live in Guinea-Bissau
The Portuguese Navy will leave today for Guinea-Bissau. Besides this, the trip is scheduled NRP Berrio - a logistical support ship - the frigate Vasco da Gama, the corvette António Enes and a U-209PN submarine. Marines are also carried aboard.
The decision comes as part of the meeting between the Minister of National Defence and four other military leaders who are assessing the potential mobilization of Portuguese troops to the country. At issue is the coup in Guinea-Bissau, which broke out this week.
Contacted by the Economic Daily, a source from the office of the Defense Ministry admits that the "immediate reaction force" (BRR) is in a state of readiness appropriate for the situation at hand," it is not possible, however, confirm that the naval force already in the two days.
The same source stated that the purpose of this movement is only for the eventual redemption of Portuguese citizens and there is no draft for military intervention. "It is to be made a regular monitoring of a situation of this kind," he said.
P-3C
N.R.P. Bérrio
U-209PN (U-214)
N.R.P. António Eanes
Vasco da Gama class frigate
Fuzileiros/DAE (Marines)
Last edited by Portugal 1143; 04-16-2012 at 12:24 PM.
When was the last time Portugal deployed on something like this, unilaterally? 1974?
Who writes copy like this? Or something lost in translation? Redemption of citizens.....
1974 was the ending of the colonial war. The mobilization started in 1961.
Except small contingents on Portuguese former colonial domains like Mozambique, ONUMOZ (1992-1994) Signals Battalion.
Angola, UNAVEM III (1995-1997) and MONUA (1997-1998) signals company, logistical company and a Sanitary Detachment.
But unilaterally in this scale yes. All the other missions (Bosnia, Kosovo, Timor, Afghanistan, etc...) were in co-op with NATO, UN or EU.
Sorry is Google translator... There is no official statement in English yet.Originally Posted by highdiver_2000
They are probably being sent on the premise of evacuating Portugese citizens.
No it`s not, Portuguese armed forces have been doind NEOs (Non-combatant evacuation operations) several times in Africa since the 90s, 1992 in Angola and 1998 in Guine-Bissau were the biggest ones.
(sites in portuguese)
big scale evacuations with several aircrafts, army units, navy ships and marines.
http://www.operacional.pt/angola-nov...do-necessario/
http://militar08.no.sapo.pt/operacao_crocodilo.htm
The majory of the other operations are just a C-130 and a small protection team, the evacuation in Lybia was the most recent one.
http://www.rtp.pt/noticias/index.php...=121&visual=49
Last edited by siberian tiger; 04-15-2012 at 08:48 PM.
Not very clear what is the intention of our goverment here, to evacuate if necessary ou citizens is one thing to interveen militarily in any side of the current disput is something else, we got a new goverment its a right wing one so lets wait and see.
One thing is for certain this situation is weird, they dont seen to get on track to peace and stability but the military are making alegations against Angola, so who knows?
It would seem illogical to intervene militarily in behalf of any of the disputing parties in Guinea-Bissau. Besides putting in danger Portuguese citizens still in the country it would destroy our relationship with Guinea-Bissau since a loosing party would still be pretty much alive in the population and the military ranks there. So it would damage any chance that we have to do business with them in the future and create a bad environment for further business in other African countries.
If you take a look at an article published on Operacional in 2009 - A crise na Guiné e a capacidade militar nacional - you can see that this task force has been put together for some years now to rescue national citizens and VIPs in situations like this.
Meanwhile, because of all the media attention saying that our P-3 are spy planes, Guinea-Bissau seems to have closed off its airspace.
Cheers,
Are the P-3's deployed from Cape Verde or Madeira?
I was a former P-3 Aircrewman and trained alongside with the Portugese AF crews in California.
The P-3 is a capable platform for many missions. There is no doubt they will act as the eyes and ears for the Portugese armed forces.
The P-3 left to Cape Verde, where it will operate from.
Cheers,
Nice place for a crew rest.
In 2000(?) Portugal sent Marines, Rangers and Airborne to Timor to finish up with the guerrillas in the "Cobra Operation". There was real combat, the first time Portugal had to fought seriously since 1974.
That was not real combat, and even less it was serious!! That was Portuguese soldiers open fire once and the others fleed...
Posting Permissions
