Portugal News - Portugal’s new ForceShield Air Defence System is the result of contract signed between French multinational Thales and the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.
Portugal’s new ForceShield air defence system is designed to strenghten Portugal's very short-range air-defence capabilities, while meeting NATO requirements.
This represents the first contract between Thales and an EU country and is in line with the block’s Long-term Military Programming Law (LPM), which defines the strategic framework for the modernization of the Armed Forces' in-service equipment.
What is Portugal’s new ForceShield Air Defence System?
ForceShield produced by French multinational Thales is an air defence solution designed to protect forces, citizens and critical infrastructure from an increasingly diverse range of airborne threats - from low-altitude threats such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to helicopters, fighter ground attacks or cruise missiles. ForceShield provides appropriate components to detect, coordinate, engage and neutralize threats.
Portugal’s new ForceShield air defence system includes a Ground Master 200 air surveillance radar, a radio communications system, an Air Defence command-and-control centre, and portable weapon allocation terminals. ForceShield also includes RapidRanger vehicles fitted with StarStreak high velocity Air Defence Missiles and with Lightweight Multirole Missile (LLM) anti-armour missiles.
Thales Portugal has been present in the country for over 36 years and is a key contributor to the Thales Group ((Euronext Paris: HO) global operations. The Group invests close to €4 billion a year in Research & Development, particularly in key innovation areas such as AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, cloud technologies and 6G.
In Portugal, Thales operates two main centres of excellence: one for naval engineering, focused on developing combat management systems, and another for air traffic management solutions. Thales employs over 400 people in Portugal, actively supporting the defence, aerospace, and cybersecurity sectors, while playing a significant role in advancing Portugal’s technological infrastructure.
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