PORTUGUESE SEAWOLVES

摘要

Portugal has one of the largest maritime patrol areas in the world and the task of monitoring it is partly thernresponsibility of the P-3 Orions of the Forca Aerea Portuguesa (Portuguese Air Force/PAF) of Esquadra 601 (601 Squadron) at Beja AB, also known as Base Aerea 11 (BA11). The country's position means it is responsible for some of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as large parts of the Atlantic Ocean, because of the outlying Portuguese islands of Madeira and the Azores, which are located 535 miles (861km) and 930 miles (1,500km) from Lisbon respectively. The size of the task was expressed by Lt Robert Teixeira, a pilot on 601 Squadron when he said: "Our coverage is greater than half the Atlantic, the rest belongs to the United States".