Portuguese Mechanized Brigade

The Mechanized Brigade (Portuguese: Brigada Mecanizada, BrigMec) is a unit in service with the Portuguese Army.

History
The Mechanized Brigade was created in 2006 from the Independent Mechanized Brigade (Brigada Mecanizada Independente), which was created from the 1st Independent Composite Brigade (1ª Brigada Mista Independente), which was itself the heir of the 3rd Infantry Division (3ª Divisão de Infantaria or Divisão Nun´Álvares) created and assigned to NATO in 1953.

Organization
The brigade is stationed at Santa Margarida (Campo Militar de Santa Margarida).


 * Headquarters Company (Companhia de Comando e Serviços)
 * 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion (1º Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizada or 1º BIMec)
 * 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion (2º Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizada or 2º BIMec)
 * Tank Battalion (Grupo de Carros de Combate)
 * Artillery Battalion (Grupo de Artilharia de Campanha or GAC)
 * Air-defense Battery (Bateria de Artilharia Anti-Aérea or BtrAAA)
 * Engineer Company (Companhia de Engenharia CEng)
 * Reconnaissance Squadron (Esqudrão de Reconhecimento or ERec)
 * Signal Company (Companhia de Transmissões CTrms)
 * Service Support Battalion (Batalhão de Apoio de Serviços or BApSvcs)

Equipment
The core equipment of the brigade are Leopard 2A6 tanks, M-113 armored personnel carrier and M-109 self-propelled 155mm howitzer. The air-defence battery is equipped with MIM-72 Chaparral self-propelled surface-to-air missile system.