Editing Portuguese Armed Forces (section)

===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.