The United States Navy has stationed six P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft at Lajes Air Base. As reported by CNN Portugal, the aircraft’s mission is to launch thousands of sonobuoys into the Atlantic to monitor submarines. These devices are designed to pick up the sound emitted by submarines, and the number of these aircraft at Lajes will be unprecedented since the end of the Cold War.

The television network cites sources according to which thousands of sonobuoys will be launched “over the next few days” in “various areas off the Azores,” with Russian nuclear submarines likely to be the main focus of attention. The role of the Lajes Base is described by journalist Rolando Santos as vital in monitoring the North Atlantic. Russian investment in submarines is defined as “very strong,” raising concerns in the United States.

The future of the Lajes Base has been highlighted by several experts and military officials as naval aviation-oriented. In an article published in the newspaper “Expresso” in February this year, Admiral António Silva Ribeiro, former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, argued that the Azores “are emerging as a key area of global geostrategy” and that Portugal must invest in strengthening its naval air power in the region.

“In an ocean marked by the intensification of Russian naval presence and Chinese influence, the Azores are becoming a key area of global geostrategy due to their essential role in protecting strategic routes and critical submarine infrastructure in their vicinity. However, the military reinforcement necessary for their protection is not only a national duty but a responsibility shared among allies,” he wrote.

The Azores are located “at the intersection of sea and air routes between Europe and America” and are home to “submarine cables that carry a large part of international communications,” which transmit “financial data, sensitive government information, and civil and military communications,” he noted.

In November last year, the then Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Gouveia e Melo, considered that “the concentration of almost the entire Navy fleet in a single base limits its response capacity” and advocated a concept based on six bases, one of which is in Praia da Vitória.

In Diário Insular-José Lourenço, director

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