Intervention Brigade (Portugal)

Intervention Brigade
Brigada de Intervenção
The insignia of the Grupo de Auto-Metralhadoras
Active	2006-present
Country	Portugal
Branch	Portuguese Army
Nickname(s)	BrigInt

The Intervention Brigade (Portuguese: Brigada de Intervenção) or BrigInt is an infantry brigade in service with the Portuguese Army. It was created in 2006 from the Brigada de Intervenção Ligeira (Light Intervention Brigade), which was itself the heir of the former Special Forces Brigade (Brigada de Forças Especiais).

Organization[]

The brigades operational units are listed below. Under the Portuguese system regiments are responsible for the training, maintenance and sustainment of the operational units, but are not operational units themselves. I.e. the 6th Cavalry Regiment trains, maintains and sustains the Intervention Brigade's Reconnaissance Group, but the regiment itself is not an operational unit and not part of the brigade during wartime.

• Intervention Brigade, in Coimbra^[1]
  • Command and Command Support Service Company, in Coimbra
  • Reconnaissance Group, 6th Cavalry Regiment (Regimento de Cavalaria Nº 6) in Braga, with Pandur II and Commando V150 armored vehicles
  • 1st Infantry Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment (Regimento de Infantaria Nº 13), in Vila Real, with Pandur II armored personnel carriers
  • 2nd Infantry Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment (Regimento de Infantaria Nº 14), in Viseu, with Pandur II armored personnel carriers
  • Field Artillery Group, 5th Artillery Regiment (Regimento de Artilharia Nº 5), in Vendas Novas with M114 155mm howitzers
  • Anti-aircraft Artillery Group, 1st Anti-Air Artillery Regiment (Regimento de Artilharia Anti-Aérea Nº 1) in Queluz with Stinger surface-to-air missiles
  • Engineer Company, 3rd Engineer Regiment (Regimento de Engenharia Nº 3), in Espinho
  • Signal Battalion, Signal Regiment (Regimento de Transmissoes), in Porto
  • Permanent Medium Service Support Nucleus (NPApSvcMed), in Entroncamento

Equipment[]

Armored Vehicles
Name	Origin	Number	Image	Notes
Pandur II	Austria  Portugal	188		Several versions made under license in Portugal by Fabrequipa. 105 Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) 7 Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV RWS) 30 Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) 5 Anti-tank Guided Missile Vehicle (ATGMV) 16 Command Post Vehicle (CPV) 7 Recovery and Maintenance vehicle (RMV) 8 Medical Evacuation Vehicle (MEV) 6 Radio Access Point Station Vehicle (RAPSV) 4 Reconnaissance and Surveillance Vehicle (RSV)
Chaimite	Portugal	6		Six Chaimite V200 4x4 armored vehicles with 81mm mortar system are currently fielded by the Portuguese Army. They are reportedly the last Chaimite V200 vehicles in the Portuguese inventory.[2]
Commando V-150	United States	9		Acquired 15 units, but only 9 are in active service, in the Group of Recognition, based on Cavalry Regiment nº6.[3]
Anti-aircraft artillery
M48A2E1 Chaparral	United States			Self-propelled surface-to-air missile system. Some in the A2 and others in the A3 versions. Will be replaced until 2026.[4]
Field artillery
M114 155 mm	United States	24		40 in service since 1983 in the BrigInt. 24 reactivated to equip the BrigInt Field Artillery Battalion.[5]
Firefinder radar
AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar	United States			Used by 5th Artillery Regiment to detect and track incoming mortar, artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for counterbattery fire.[6]

References[]