NRP Arpão regressa da SNMG2.

The NRP Arpão, which was part of Operation Active Endeavour and the international exercise Noble Mariner in the Mediterranean, returned to Lisbon after departing from the Lisbon Naval Base on August 28. On board the Arpão was the Minister of National Defence, accompanied by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Luís Evangelista Esteves de Araújo, and the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral José Saldanha Lopes. José Pedro Aguiar-Branco made a point of being present at the arrival of another international mission of the Armed Forces and highlighted the importance of our country's "submarine capability" and "allowing Portugal to participate at this level in an operation, which is also a structuring operation, in the fight against piracy, in our complementarity in terms of NATO operations, in fulfilling our commitments in terms of the Atlantic Alliance". Operation Active Endeavour is a NATO operation in the Mediterranean, focused on the international campaign to combat terrorism. Its objective is to conduct naval and air operations in the Mediterranean, focusing on deterrence, defense, and protection against activities associated with terrorism. The Noble Mariner exercise is a naval exercise aimed at preparing and certifying NATO Response Forces for operational deployment in real-world scenarios, whether in primarily military operations or in humanitarian aid or assistance to civilian populations. The Arpão has a crew of 33 military personnel, including 7 officers, 10 sergeants, and 16 enlisted personnel. The submarine reaches a maximum speed of 20 knots and guarantees a maximum autonomy of 45 days, possessing the capacity to launch missiles, air defense and surface warfare missiles, and the capacity to launch surface and subsurface warfare torpedoes. It is worth remembering that Portugal has the largest maritime area in Europe and the 11th largest in the world, ahead of countries such as China and India. [Source: National Defense] Note: The NRP Arpão is currently commanded by Captain-Lieutenant Baptista Pereira.