The Mechanized Brigade is a unit in service with the Portuguese Army

Portuguese Army

The Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...

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History

The Mechanized Brigade was created in 2006 from the Independent Mechanized Brigade (Brigada Mecanizada Independente), which was created from the 1st Independent Composite Brigade (1ª Brigada Mista Independente), which was itself the heir of the 3rd Infantry Division (3ª Divisão de Infantaria or Divisão Nun´Álvares) created and assigned to NATO in 1953.

Organization

The brigade is stationed at Santa Margarida (Campo Militar de Santa Margarida).

• Headquarters Company (Companhia de Comando e Serviços)
• 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion (1º Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizada or 1º BIMec)
• 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion (2º Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizada or 2º BIMec)
• Tank Battalion (Grupo de Carros de Combate)
• Artillery Battalion (Grupo de Artilharia de Campanha or GAC)
• Air-defense Battery (Bateria de Artilharia Anti-Aérea or BtrAAA)
• Engineer Company (Companhia de Engenharia CEng)
• Reconnaissance Squadron (Esqudrão de Reconhecimento or ERec)
• Signal Company (Companhia de Transmissões CTrms)
• Service Support Battalion (Batalhão de Apoio de Serviços or BApSvcs)

Equipment

The core equipment of the brigade are Leopard 2A6 tanks, M-113

M113 armored personnel carrier

The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier that has formed the backbone of the United States Army's mechanized infantry units from the time of its first fielding in Vietnam in April 1962. The M113 was the most widely used armored vehicle of the U.S...

 armored personnel carrier and M-109

M109 howitzer

The M109 is an American-made self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s. It was upgraded a number of times to today's M109A6 Paladin...

 self-propelled 155mm howitzer. The air-defence battery is equipped with MIM-72 Chaparral self-propelled surface-to-air missile system.