National Defense Minister Nuno Melo announced that the new proposal for the Military Programming Act will include the acquisition of a third submarine for the Navy.
© Lusa
05/11/2026
by
Lusa
O minister of National Defense, Nuno Melo, announced today that the new proposal for the Military Programming Act (LPM) will include the acquisition of a third submarine for the Navy.
“ In the next Military Programming Act there will be another submarine,” said Nuno Melo, in a response to the PS already in the final round of the hearing in the Assembly of the Republic as part of the debate on the proposal for a State Budget for 2027.
In an interview with Lusa in September, the Chief of Staff of the Armada (CEMA), Admiral Nobre de Sousa, had already expressed the desire to include a new submarine in the bill establishing public investment in means and equipment for the Armed Forces for 12 years and which will have to be reviewed by the deputies this year.
Nuno Melo pointed out that the submarine “is a weapon with the ability of deterrence that few have at sea”.
During about five hours of parliamentary hearing, one of the most discussed investments was the replacement of F-16 fighters. After the Defense Minister repeated several times that the process has not yet been opened, IL deputy Miguel Rangel asked the governor if it was possible to have access to a calendar.
“ Regarding calendars in relation to the F-16s, I cannot advance him anything for the reasons I have already explained, and the discussion about this only after the approval of the Military Programming Law, never before, and that will be until the end of the year”, answered Nuno Melo.
The president of the CDS-PP also added that the discussion “will be at government level” and not just at national defense level.
Moments later, Frederico Francisco asked the minister to clarify whether or not this investment will be included in the Military Programming Act proposal, and warned that the refueling plane of the KC-390 Air Force is not compatible with the US F-35A of Lockheed Martin.
Nuno Melo repeated only that the discussion about the fighters “will only occur after the discussion about the LPM”.
The minister insisted that the investment – which is being fought between the Americans of Lockheed Martin (F-35), the Swedes of Saab (Gripen E), the European consortium that includes Airbus (Eurofighters Typhoon) and the French of Dassault Aviation (Rafale) – will be based on a “technical and political judgment” and will depend on opinions “in particular from the Air Force that will have to do comparative studies” and then “the Government will decide”.
Regarding the real estate assets of the Defense universe, Nuno Melo rejected that there are abandoned buildings in the possession of the Armed Forces and said that those who are abandoned “are in the IHRU, in STAMO, in the municipalities, were delivered and did nothing”.
In response to questions by Mrs Gonçalves, Nuno Melo said that on 2 December the ceremony will be held to deliver the first two satellites in Alverca, where Portugal will start producing this type of equipment.
In addition to production, Portugal is working on creating a space base that allows satellite launches in Santa Maria, Azores. According to Nuno Melo, the “land acquisition process” for this base will be completed by the end of the year.
The governor also said that it is planned to launch up to 11 satellites already in 2027 and “capacity of 40 in 2028”.
In response to the PCP Member Paula Santos, who questioned the owner on the Arsenal of the Alfeite, Nuno Melo insisted that no job is at risk in the new management model between the public entity idD Portugal Defence and Italian Fincantieri, and that the government’s objective is that these shipyards be “a reference infrastructure in the European Union”.
About the fire fight, a mission in which the military first became involved this year, Melo said that in 2027 eight means of the Air Force were expected to participate in the total device.
Deputy Secretary of State and National Defense Policy, Nuno Pinheiro Torres, said that the Defense Cooperation (CDD) budget, which includes cooperation with Timor, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, São Tomé and Cape Verde, “will grow by 2027 about 15% compared to 2026”.
At a certain time of the hearing, after reference was made to the departure of the CDS-PP of former President Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, Nuno Melo made a point of reply: “In the CDS-PP we are as in the Armed Forces, we have more entries than exits. As for those who leave, I only wish them happiness”.