There is already a memorandum of understanding for the departure of the Air Force from the Lisbon Military Airfield, o Transit Aerodrome no. 1, technically designated AT1. Land connecting the municipalities of Mértola and Serpa, northeast of Pulo do Lobo, on the left bank of the Guadiana, will be the only operation for the shooting range.
SIC television revealed that they are “to be defined” the “compensation amounts payable to the Air Force, as they will include the purchase of new land to reinstall the Alcochete shooting range, as well as changing the use of the currently existing military airport in Montijo”.
The construction of the new airport in Alcochete, forces the relocation of the Air Force shooting range, it will have to be relocated and this is where the district of Beja comes in, more specifically the municipalities of Mértola and Serpa.
In 7 December last year, Lidador Notícias revealed that the FAP had no alternative other than Mértola as a possible destination to relocate its shooting range, since in 22 November 2007, the situation began to be studied.
At the time fountain in the office of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Cartaxo Alves, replied that “regardless of the solution that is taken, the Air Force will always be, as in other circumstances, part of the same”.
However, according to military sources, from 2017, when the Alcochete option for the new airport had already been considered the most advantageous by LNEC (National Civil Engineering Laboratory), the Mértola hypothesis was considered as the one that best served the operational requirements of the Air Force and “no other location has been studied since then”.
The first steps to relocate the Shooting Range
Remember that the “first steps” to change the infrastructure to Vale no Poço, place also known as “Factories”, in the municipalities of Mértola and Serpa, were given in 22 November 2007, subject that was discussed again twelve years later, by the then Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CEMFA), General Manuel Roll, at the end of a parliamentary hearing, realizada a 16 January 2019, stressing that “it is fundamental for the operability of F-16 aircraft”.
Justifying that “it is a postponed project that has an estimated cost of around 242 million euros ", said, remembering that there is a study that shows a possible location for the shooting range [Alentejo] when the question is put. Manuel Rolo justified that the highest charge would be made with the transfer of the Alcochete Shooting Field to the Mértola/Serpa area, between 2024 and 2036: the cost will exceed 242 million.
In December 2023, interviewed by Diário de Notícias (DN) about what had been planned and prepared in relation to the relocation of that shooting range, the office of the now Air Force Chief of Staff, General Cartaxo Alves, just replied that “regardless of the solution that is taken, the Air Force will always be, as in other circumstances, part of the same”.
In November 2007, Mayors of Mértola and Serpa demonstrated against the possible installation of a shooting range in the common saw the two municipalities to replace the Alcochete, claiming that a tourism project is planned for the area. Portuguese Air Force Source (FAP) then revealed that the Mértola area, “due to the characteristics of the terrain and low demographic density”, could be an “alternative to studying”.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
