UALE
|
Unidade de Aviação Ligeira do Exército Army Light Aviation Unit |
|
|---|---|
| Active | June 1, 2000 — 2015 |
| Country | Portugal |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Army aviation |
| Role | Tactical Air Transport, Reconnaissance, Close Air Support |
| Part of | Rapid Reaction Brigade |
| Garrison/HQ | Tancos Military Air Field |
The Army Light Aviation Unit (Portuguese: Unidade de Aviação Ligeira do Exército, UALE) was the planned aviation unit of the Portuguese Army. Created in 2000 as the Army Light Aviation Group (GALE), it was the Army's unit dedicated to missions of light aviation, being integrated in the Army Forces System, under the operational command of the Ground Forces Operational Command (Portuguese: Comando Operacional das Forças Terrestres). It was planned to be equipped with light fire support and medium maneuver helicopters. The process of helicopter procurement however, suffered successive set backs until being finally canceled in 2012, causing the unit disbandment in 2015.
The Portuguese Army maintained its own aviation arm from 1914 to 1952. This arm received a high degree of autonomy in 1937, including its own separate chain of command, although continuing to be administratively connected to the Army. In the early 1950s, the decision was taken to completely separate it from the Army, becoming an entirely independent branch of the Armed Forces. The decision was also taken to separate the Portuguese Naval Aviation from the Navy and to put it under the control of the new independent air branch. The new branch created in 1952, became the Portuguese Air Force, unifying all the Portuguese military aviation assets and operations under a single command.
At the same time that the process of the separation of the Portuguese Air Force was being carried away, the Army felt the need to continue to maintain its own light aviation service to support the artillery arm in the observation and direction of fire over targets located beyond the horizon. This need led the Army minister General Abranches Pinto to boost the process of activation of what was intended to be the future Artillery Observation Light Aviation. The process advances in 1952, with the sending of officers for training in the US Army Artillery Aviation, with the construction of the General Abrantes Pinto Air Field in the artillery range area of the Army Artillery School at Vendas Novas and with the reception of 22 Piper Super-Cub L-21 observation and liaison planes. Eight of these aircraft started to be permanently based at the Army Artillery School Air Field, being used in the artillery observation role and piloted by artillery arm pilots-observers. The remaining aircraft were only used in maneuvers, being piloted by Air Force pilots. Meanwhile, the concept of Army light aviation evolved and plans were being made to equip it in the future also with helicopters and to give it other missions besides those related with the artillery. The process of the raising of the Army Light Aviation is however terminated in 1955, with the transference of the Piper Super-Cub aircraft to the Air Force, these forming an Army cooperation Liaison and Training Flight based at the Tancos Air Base.
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