Editing Portuguese Armed Forces (section)

==Organization==

===General Staff of the Armed Forces===
{{Main|Armed Forces General Staff (Portugal)}}
The General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA, ''Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas'') is the superior military body and supreme headquarters of the Portuguese Armed Forces. It is responsible for planning, directing and controlling the usage of the three service branches in their fulfillment of assigned missions and tasks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lei Orgânica nº1-A/2009 Capítulo II Secção I Artigo 8º Nº1|url=http://www.emgfa.pt/documents/1stcdg49738f.pdf|website=emgfa.pt|publisher=XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal|access-date=1 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418190747/http://www.emgfa.pt/documents/1stcdg49738f.pdf|archive-date=18 April 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The EMGFA is headed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and includes:
[[File:Sede Ministério da Defesa de Portugal.jpg|300x300px|thumb|Headquarters building of the EMGFA and of [[Ministry of National Defence (Portugal)|Ministry of National Defence]], in Lisbon]]
* Deputy for the Planning and Coordination
* Joint Command for the Military Operations
* Azores Operational Command
* Madeira Operational Command
* Military Strategic Planning Division
* Resources Division
* Directorate of Communications and Information Systems
* [[CISMIL|Military Security and Intelligence Center (CISMIL)]]
* Directorate of Military Health
* Directorate of Finance
* General Support Command

The EMGFA also has under its dependency the following bodies:
* [[Portuguese Joint Command and Staff College|Military University Institute]] 
* Military missions abroad
* Hospital of the Armed Forces
* Military Health Teaching, Training and Investigation Unit

===Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces===
The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGFA, ''Chefe do Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas'') is the principal military adviser of the Minister of National Defense and is the chief with the highest authority in the hierarchy of the Portuguese Armed Forces.

The CEMGFA is an admiral or a general ([[four star rank]]) of one of the branches of service, appointed by the President of the Republic by proposal of the Government. Before being proposed to the President, the nominee has to be presented by the Minister of National Defense to the Council of Chiefs of Staff for a previous hearing. If the nominee is refused by the President, the Government has to present another option. Traditionally, there is a rotation of the branch of service that provides the CEMGFA, but this is not mandatory and not always happens.

The CEMGFA is responsible for the planning and implementation of the operational military strategy, having under his hierarchic dependency the chiefs of staff of the branches of service for the matters that evolve the preparedness, the employment and the sustainment of the forces and assets of the operational component of the system of forces and responding before the Government – through the Minister of National Defense – for the military response capacity of the Armed Forces. He/she is the operational commander of the Armed Forces, being responsible for the employment of all forces and assets of the operational component of the system of forces in operational missions. The sustainment of the forces and assets referred before is under the branches of service responsibility, with the respective chiefs of staff being under the CEMGFA dependency for that.

The branch of service chief of staff who is longer in the function replaces the CEMGFA, in case of his absence or impediment.

===Branches of the Armed Forces===
[[File:Portuguese Fuzileiros in a boat making a visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) drill during Phoenix Express 2010 (PE-10).jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Visit, board, search, and seizure|VBSS]] action carried by a boarding team of the frigate NRP ''Bartolomeu Dias'' of the Portuguese Navy]]
[[File:Pandur 8x8 Wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier, Trident Juncture 15 (22525568331).jpg|thumb|300x300px|[[Pandur II]] 8x8 Wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier during exercise Trident Juncture 15]]
[[File:Portuguese Navy Rescue Chopper Over the Atlantic (15613348118) (3).jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Search and rescue|SAR]] operation performed by an [[AgustaWestland EH101|EH101]] helicopter of the Portuguese Air Force]]
The Portuguese Armed Forces include three branches, these being the Navy, the Army and the Air Force. Created centuries ago, the Navy and the Army are much older than the integrated Armed Forces themselves. The Air Force is however younger, being created as a separate branch already after the establishment of the integrated Armed Forces. The branches of service have as their principal mission to participate, in an integrated form, in the defense of the Republic, in the terms defined by the Constitution and the law, being mainly aimed for the generation, preparation and sustainment of the forces of the operational component of the system of forces. The branches also guarantee their own specific missions established by particular laws and also guarantee the operational missions given to them by the CEMGFA.

The increasing integration and standardization of the different branches of service meant that their organizations gradually approached. Presently, all the three branches have an identical organizational model that includes: 
* a chief of staff
* a branch staff
* central bodies of administration and management
* a component command
* bodies of advisement
* bodies of inspection
* base bodies 
* elements of the operational component of the system of forces

The chiefs of staff serve as the branch commanders. The staffs are the bodies for planning and decision support of the respective chiefs of staff, being able also to assume roles of management, control, advisement or inspection. The central bodies of administration and management have a functional character and are intended to guarantee the management and execution in specific fundamental areas and activities as the human, material, financial, information and infrastructures resources management. The component commands (naval, land and air) are intended to support the chiefs of staff in their command roles. The component commands can be put under the direct dependency of the CEMGFA for the exercise of his command roles. The bodies of advisement are intended to support the decision of the chiefs of staff in special and important matters regarding the preparedness, discipline and administration of the branch. The bodies of inspection are intended to support the control and evaluation function of the chiefs of staff. The base bodies are those aimed at the training, the sustainment and the general support of the branch. The elements of the operational component of the system of forces are the forces and assets of the branch intended for the accomplishment of the operational missions.

Besides the above referred standard bodies, the Navy also includes the Hydrographic Institute and the Maritime Search and Rescue Service, while the Air Force also includes the Air Search and Rescue Service.

Until recently, the Navy also included the National Maritime Authority. Statutorily, the Maritime Authority is now an entirely separate legal entity, but it continues to be headed by the Chief of Staff of the Navy and continues to be mainly administered, supported and staffed by the Navy. The same happens with the National Aeronautic Authority in relation to the Air Force, the difference being that this Authority was already created as a separate legal entity.

===Chiefs of staff of the branches===
The chiefs of staff of the Navy, of the Army and of the Air Force command their respective branches, being the military chiefs with the higher authority in each of the branches hierarchy and being the principal advisors of the Minister of National Defense and of the CEMGFA in all matters related with their branches. Inside each branch, the respective chief of staff is the only officer with a [[four-star rank]] (admiral in the Navy and general in the other two branches).

The chiefs of staff are part of the operational command structure of the Armed Forces, serving as deputy commanders of the CEMGFA. While they report to the CEMGFA in the operational, military intelligence and security, military higher learning, military health and other joint matters, they report directly to the Minister of National Defense in the matters related with the current management of their branches resources.

The chiefs of staff of the branches are appointed by the President of the Republic, by government proposal, in an analogous process of that of the CEMGFA appointment. The CEMGFA must be heard before a name is proposed to the President.

===Military bodies of advisement===
The military bodies of advisement of the armed forces are the Council of Chiefs of Staff and the higher councils of the several branches.

The Council of Chiefs of Staff is the principal military coordinating body, being also the body of advisement of the CEMGFA. It is presided over by the CEMGFA and also includes the chiefs of staff of the three branches of service. Other military entities may be invited to participate in their meetings, but without voting rights.

In each of the branches, there is a higher council presided by the respective chief of staff. These are the Council of the Admiralty, the Higher Council of the Army and the Higher Council of the Air Force. The branches may have other advisement bodies like the military careers councils (the councils of class in the Navy, the councils of arm or service in the Army and the councils of specialty in the Air Force).