Lisbon, July 17, 2025 (Lusa) - The number of companies in the defence sector already exceeds 400, according to IdD Portugal Defence, and with the growth of financing instruments, the country's industrial association has a project to support around 40 companies in their applications for funding.
Ricardo Pinheiro Alves, chairman of the board of IdD Portugal Defence, the state holding company that manages public stakes in companies in the sector, told the Lusa news agency on Thursday that the number of Portuguese companies operating in the defence sector now stands at "more than 400".
When asked whether bureaucracy is still a problem in this sector, Ricardo Pinheiro Alves replied that "bureaucracy is a problem in all areas".
To help with these bureaucratic issues and access to more financing instruments, the Portuguese Industrial Association (AIP) has a project to support around 40 companies in submitting applications, he told Lusa.
Investment in defence has been one of the hot topics in recent times, particularly due to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, with the European Commission and NATO encouraging spending in this area and developing funding programmes.
In addition to the European Defence Fund, AIP president José Eduardo Carvalho says that the association is also looking at "programmes and instruments directly managed by NATO, such as the DIANA programme and the Risk Capital Fund (FIN - NATO Innovation Fund), which is heavily capitalised".
In order to support this process, the AIP has a project that "enables the identification of potential companies eligible for these programmes and instruments, provides technical assistance in meeting the eligibility requirements and supports the preparation of applications and their follow-up with the funding bodies," the official told Lusa.
The project also has a licensing aspect for standards and requirements applicable to the defence sector, and AIP plans to "support and involve 40 companies in submitting applications to this programme".
José Eduardo Carvalho also points out that this is a sector where "the weight of large companies is significantly greater than their weight in the domestic economy".
The president of the AIP highlights that the increase in investment in defence "is raising growing expectations not only about the strategy, but also about the areas in which Portugal will concentrate its investment and respective financing programmes".
At a conference on the defence economy organised at the end of June, he also warned that there is "little statistical information on the contribution of the defence industry to the domestic economy" and that the data released by some institutions is out of date.
When asked about the fact that only data for 2023 or partial data for 2024 are available, and that several experts have warned of this difficulty, Ricardo Pinheiro Alves pointed out that the "Simplified Business Information for 2024, which reports the individual accounts of companies, is not yet available".
"There is some data that is known, such as the number of companies operating in defence or that resulting from the General State Account and the activity of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces," he added.
This week, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced that the government intends to introduce legislative changes to "speed up procedures" in the area of defence.
"We deliberately wanted to include investment in defence as one of the elements of the ongoing administrative reform. This is also where we want to have a more expeditious State that resolves issues more quickly. To this end, we will very soon present a set of legislative amendments that will also be relevant to speeding up procedures," announced Luís Montenegro.
MES/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
