The Department of Defense has authorized the purchase of missiles up to a maximum amount of 21 million euros, to be spent this year and between 2025 and 2029, which will be purchased from the US government.
The order, published Friday in Diário da República and signed on September 23 by Defense Minister Helena Carreiras, authorizes the “purchase of AIM-9X missiles” and adds that they will be acquired “with the government of the United States of America”.
Expenses up to a maximum amount of 21 million euros have been approved for this purchase “to be financed through the resources enshrined in the Military Programming Act – Air Force, by 2022 in the ‘Offensive and Defensive Air Combat’ capability, and for 2025 to 2029 in the ‘War Reserves’ capability”.
According to the document, which lists the maximum amounts that can be spent on this type of missiles until 2029, an expenditure of a maximum of nine million euros is allowed for this year.
In the text, the purchase is justified by the fact that the Air Force has identified “essential” to acquire this material “under the Operational Capabilities Acquisition Program for the F-16 MLU Weapons System”.
Three more orders were issued this Friday regarding expenditures on military equipment, including “procurement of electronic warfare systems for the F-16MLU aircraft”.
For the purchase of these four “Radar systems ‘Warning Receiver SPS-45(V)5′” an expenditure of a maximum of two million four hundred thousand euros was authorized. “excluding VAT, to be financed in 2022 through the resources included in the Military Programming Act (LPM)”.
For the Land Forces, also through LPM funds, the purchase of anti-tank weapons was allowed up to a maximum amount of about ten million euros, which will be spent until 2027.
The equipment will be purchased through the Atlantic Alliance’s agency, NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).
The purchase of unmanned aerial systems for the army was also approved through this NATO agency, up to a maximum value of two million six hundred thousand euros, to be spent until 2025.
The unmanned aerial systems and anti-tank weapons are intended to contribute “to meeting the requirements laid down by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” the reports said.
NSPA is a NATO logistics and procurement agency, operating in various domains, including “air, land, maritime, cyber and space”, functioning as a “link” between industry and countries.
Source: DN
