Portuguese Air Force Academy
| Academia da Força Aérea | |
 |
|
| Motto | E não menos por armas que por letras |
|---|---|
|
Motto in English
|
And no less by arms than by letters |
| Type | Air force academy |
| Established | 1 February 1978 |
| Commander of the AFA | Major-general pilot-aviator Joaquim Manuel Nunes Borrego |
|
Academic staff
|
46 |
| Students | 200 |
| Address | Granja do Marquês, 2715-021 PÊRO PINHEIRO, Sintra, District of Lisbon, Portugal |
| Campus | Sintra Air Base |
| Website | www.emfa.pt/afa |
Coordinates: 38°50′12″N 9°20′08″W / 38.83678°N 9.33548°W
The Portuguese Air Force Academy (AFA, Academia da Força Aérea in Portuguese) is a Portuguese military higher education institution whose aim is to provide all its students with the training and the experience that will enable them to graduate having gained the knowledge and the character qualities that are essential for leadership, and the motivation to become Portuguese Air Force officers. It comprises both university and polytechnical academic programmes.
Further, AFA has doctorate (PhD) programmes in several fields.
For many years after its creation in 1952 as an independent branch of the Armed Forces of Portugal, Portuguese Air Force officers attended the Army' Military Academy. However, military professionalization, as well as the specific nature of the qualifications required for an Air Force career officer, led to the creation of the separate Air Force Academy (AFA), in 1978.
The AFA became the third military higher education institution, alongside the Naval School and the Military Academy.
Presently, AFA has its own facilities inside Sintra Air Base (Air Base 1) area at Granja do Marquês. It started its activity though, on 1 February 1978, in temporary facilities and only students that were then attending the third year of the Military Aeronautics degree course were taken in. As its own facilities were built it became possible to expand the educational range of the Academy to cover other areas of interest. Thus, in response to the real needs of the Air Force, in the school year of 1991/92 other degrees were created: aeronautical engineering, airfield engineering; electrical engineering, computer engineering and aeronautical administration. In order to get these degrees, students have to attend other higher education institutions for the final years of each course.
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