Portugal Advances Spike Anti-Tank Missile Fielding With First Army Workshop and Training.

Portugal has completed its first military workshop on the Spike anti-tank missile at Santa Margarida Military Camp, opening the fielding phase of a long-planned guided weapons upgrade. The move signals a rapid shift away from legacy MILAN systems and positions Lisbon to strengthen NATO land power.

According to information published by the Portuguese Army on its official Facebook page, on 24 November 2025, the service has conducted a first workshop on the Spike anti-tank missile launcher system at the Santa Margarida Military Camp, marking the opening phase of a new guided missile capability that will be integrated into the Força Terrestre 2045 future force structure. The workshop, run by EuroSpike specialists and accompanied by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), brought together the Army’s Tactical Training, Simulation and Certification Center and soldiers from the units that will operate the system. This first contact was designed to map the entire Spike ecosystem for Portugal, from technical requirements and acquisition processes to future maintenance protocols and training standards, so the system can be fielded rapidly once deliveries begin.
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The Spike LR2 anti-tank missile gives Portuguese forces 5,5 km precision, top attack capability, and the man-in-the-loop control against modern armored and fortified targets (Picture source: Portuguese Army).

Behind this event sits a multiyear procurement story. The Portuguese Army has relied for decades on the MILAN m/94 wire-guided missile, of which 68 launchers and 799 missiles remain in inventory, a system that is now clearly outmatched by modern tanks with explosive reactive armor and active protection. In 2022, the Ministry of National Defence earmarked about €19.9 million under the Military Programming Law to replace MILAN with a new anti-tank guided missile. Open sources now list the Rafael EuroSpike system as selected in the 2024–2025 timeframe, with deliveries scheduled for 2026 via an NSPA-managed process, although Lisbon has not yet disclosed quantities or final contract value.

Portugal is buying into one of the most advanced anti-tank missile families in NATO. Spike is a fourth to fifth generation electro optical guided weapon with a tandem HEAT warhead and a dual CCD and infrared seeker, able to operate in classic fire and forget mode or in fire observe update mode via a fiber optic data link. EuroSpike and Rafael describe the current LR2 variant as a 13 kilogram missile with a ground launched range of 5.5 kilometers, a top attack engagement profile, selectable warheads and multiple firing modes, including engagement on pre programmed target coordinates beyond the operator’s line of sight. Although the Portuguese Army has not publicly confirmed the exact model, the timelines and NSPA framework strongly suggest Lisbon will field an LR2 class configuration compatible with future vehicle turrets as well as tripod launchers.

For the Força Terrestre 2045 construct, the Spike system is more than a simple Milan replacement. The Army’s modernization roadmap foresees reorganized light, medium, and mechanized brigades, new Boxer 8×8 armored vehicles, tracked infantry fighting vehicles, and modern 155 mm artillery, all intended to give Portugal credible high-intensity combat mass on NATO’s flanks in an era shaped by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In that context, a 5.5-kilometer top-attack missile with man-in-the-loop guidance allows Portuguese anti-tank teams to overwatch maneuvering Leopard 2A6s and future IFVs from covered positions, prosecute targets hiding behind terrain features, and strike bunkers or urban strongpoints with high precision and limited collateral damage.

The new system is likely to sit at the brigade and battalion level, complementing short-range M72 and Carl Gustav systems and the longer-range TOW 2 already mounted on M113 and Pandur II platforms. With Spike, Portuguese platoons will be able to engage main battle tanks, heavy IFVs, fortifications, and even hovering helicopters at ranges that previously required artillery, while the fiber optic link allows operators to abort or retarget in flight if the tactical picture changes. The workshop at Santa Margarida is therefore as much about rewriting tactics and rules of engagement as it is about learning a new launcher.

Portugal is also joining a very broad user community. More than forty armed forces worldwide have acquired Spike family missiles, from Australia and Finland to India and South Korea. In Europe, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, and others are fielding Spike LR2 on tripods, armored vehicles, and helicopters, while Brazil has begun to receive its first LR2 missiles for mechanized antitank units. At the high end of the family, the United States Army is integrating Spike NLOS on AH-64E Apache helicopters for thirty-two-kilometer precision strikes, reinforcing the system’s position as a de facto NATO standard for long-range anti-tank and precision fires.

For the Portuguese Army, the Spike program is a litmus test of how quickly Força Terrestre 2045 can turn planning documents into deployable combat capability. If the NSPA-supported acquisition stays on schedule and the training community at Santa Margarida, CEMTEx, and the tactical training center can compress the learning curve, Portugal will move from a 1970s-era wire-guided missile to a networked, fifth-generation anti-tank ecosystem in a single step, strengthening Lisbon’s contribution to NATO deterrence on land.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.