The armed forces of Portugal, commonly known as the Portuguese Armed Forces (Forças Armadas Portuguesas) encompasses a Navy (Marinha), an Army (Exército) and an Air Force (Força Aérea). The President of Portugal is the formal Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces but in practice they answer to the Portuguese Government via the Minister of National Defense.
The Portuguese Armed Forces are charged with protecting Portugal's sovereignty and interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. As the armed forces of one of NATO's founding nations, Portugal's military has been an active participant since 1955.
Recent operations have included patrolling the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia (since 2009), the war in Afghanistan (since 2005), intervention in East-Timor (1999–2004), in Guinea-Bissau (1990, 1998 and 1999), Angola (1992) and ongoing peacekeeping responsibilities in the Balkans and Lebanon. Bases are maintained throughout Portugal, both on the mainland and the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores.
Read more about Portuguese Armed Forces: Current Strength
Famous quotes containing the words armed and/or forces:
“For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon’s teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“The modern world needs people with a complex identity who are intellectually autonomous and prepared to cope with uncertainty; who are able to tolerate ambiguity and not be driven by fear into a rigid, single-solution approach to problems, who are rational, foresightful and who look for facts; who can draw inferences and can control their behavior in the light of foreseen consequences, who are altruistic and enjoy doing for others, and who understand social forces and trends.”
—Robert Havighurst (20th century)