Portugal jumps on the drone train

The Chief of the General Staff of the Portuguese Army, Gen. Eduardo Mendes Ferrao, announced on March 25 that the first-ever exercises of the Portuguese Armed Forces involving combat drones took place. They occurred during the ongoingStrong Impact 2026 maneuvers, which include Portuguese, French, Romanian, and Spanish troops. Maneuvers are taking place at a training ground in the municipality of Constância, in central Portugal.

“In this way, we are preparing for the future. We have already successfully tested strike drones, in which we now intend to invest. (…) In the current environment of increasingly numerous digital threats, we need command and control systems that will allow us to operate in an integrated manner with other branches of the armed forces, as well as with our NATO allies.” Domestic production of unmanned systems is planned. At the same time, an anti-drone defense unit is expected to be established in the coming months.

The development of drone units within NATO armies appears to be an emerging trend. The Netherlands has made a similar decision and plans to establish drone and anti-drone units for all combat formations. The Dutch Ministry of Defence plans to recruit between 1,000 and 1,200 drone specialists. The growing popularity of drone units is directly linked to the experiences of the Russo-Ukrainian war, where unmanned systems play a crucial role.