Portugal has been a founding member of NATO since 1949, and the Alliance is presented as a guarantee for maintaining national independence and sovereignty. The article argues that the current challenge lies in increasing the autonomy of the European Pillar of NATO, which constitutes both a challenge and an opportunity for the Portuguese National Defence industry. The military needs of National Defence were defined in 2025 in the context of this reinforcement, with all Alliance countries planning their capabilities for the next 20 years.
The National Defence industry must be oriented towards the end user, which are the military branches, framed by political authority, and which determine their operational needs. Portugal is investing in Defence through the Military Programming Law, the SAFE loan and support for Ukraine. By October, the Implementation Plan for the Strategy for Cooperation between Industry and NATO will be defined, which will emphasise strengthening and sustainability of production in the defence sector, technological innovation and interoperability between systems.
The participation of the Portuguese industry in this Plan depends on its readiness to respond to NATO's challenges and access to appropriate information channels within the Alliance. Priorities are conveyed through exercises such as ARTEx and REPMUS, held annually in Troia, and through instruments such as DIANA challenges and accelerators and the NATO Innovation Fund. Portuguese companies that are left out risk losing opportunities and compromising the sustainability of their defence business.
The article concludes that proximity and knowledge of the end users' needs are essential for the industry's sustainability, warning that subsidies can create dangerous dependency when they do not respond to real NATO and military priorities. Without an industry that supports the military branches, they cannot consistently fulfil their missions, putting at risk the very notion of national sovereignty and independence.
