The Portuguese Air Force Academy (PoAFA) was created on 27 January 1978 to enable the Portuguese Air Force to prepare its own commissioned officers. PoAFA facilities are attached to Air Base 1, at Granja do Marquês, north of Sintra. The first course at PoAFA started on February 1st, 1978, only with air force pilots students.
The Aeronautical Engineering, Airfield Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Aeronautical Administration course started later, in 1991. In the same year, PoAFA started Bachelor degrees to allow personnel from the ranks under short-term contract and NCOs to become commissioned officers.
The Aeronautical Studies Centre was established in 2006, with the mission to provide complementary training courses for military personnel. The Centre is currently responsible for the Basic Command Course (Captain promotion course) and the Chief Master Sergeant Promotion Course.
As a public military higher education institution, AFA takes part in several national and international scientific research projects, in cooperation with several public and private organisations, through the Air Force Academy Research Centre.
Major General Paulo Costa joined the Portuguese Air Force Academy in August 1988 and graduated in Military and Aeronautical Sciences, specializing as an Air Force Pilot, in December 1993, after completing his pilot training in the USA and earning his wings at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
During his operational career, he held numerous positions and obtained various qualifications within the flight squadrons he joined, including serving as an instructor pilot on the TB-30 EPSILON aircraft and as an operational pilot, pilot-in-command, instructor pilot, and Mission Commander on the maritime patrol aircraft P-3 ORION. Throughout his career, he accumulated 5,000 flight hours.
Regarding command and leadership positions, he commanded the 601 Squadron “Lobos,” headed the Operations Division at the Portuguese Air Force Staff, commanded Air Base No. 11 – Beja, and was Director of Air Operations at the Portuguese Air Command. In 2011, he commanded the National Deployed Force in the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia—Operation “OCEAN SHIELD.”
At the staff level, he served in the Office of the Prime Minister of the XIX Constitutional Government, providing advice in the areas of defense and security, and was a full member of the Monitoring Committee for the National Defense Reform “DEFESA 2020.”
With respect to his international experience, he served as Military Adviser at the Portuguese Military Representation (MILREP) to NATO and the European Union from 2014 to 2017. Subsequently, in 2024 and 2025, he assumed the role of Director of the Combined Air Operations Centre of Torrejón (CAOC TJ) in Madrid, immediately prior to his current appointment.
In program management, he was part of the Monitoring and Supervision Mission for the P-3C CUP+ Fleet Modernization Program, served as Director of the Acquisition Program and Operational Implementation of the AW-119 KOALA helicopter, and was the national representative on the NAEW&C Program Management Organization Board of Directors.
Regarding teaching and training duties, he was the Coordinator for the Education on Military Operations and for the Education of Military Techniques and Technologies at the Military University Institute.
Major General Paulo Costa holds several commendations and decorations, notably four Silver Medals for Distinguished Service, 1st and 2nd Class Military Merit Medals, 2nd Class National Defence Medal, 2nd Class Aeronautical Merit Medal, Exemplary Conduct Gold Medal, and two NATO Service Medals.
Major General Paulo Costa is married and has four children.
The Portuguese Air Force Academy (PoAFA) is both a military unit and a higher education establishment which mission is to provide education and training to the future Portuguese Air Force commissioned officers. Providing a kind of instruction which is unique in Portugal, the AFA currently offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees focussed on academic education, military and sports training and aeronautical knowledge and culture.
The Masters’ degrees provided at AFA – namely, Air Force Pilot; Aeronautical Engineering; Airfield Engineering; Aeronautical Administration, and Medicine – are officially recognised as university degrees. Besides scientific curricular units, all degrees include 60 ECTS on military subjects, as well as military and sport training, which are extracurricular activities.
Air Force Pilot Students do all their education at PoAFA and Portuguese Air Force Squads. Pilots’ master degree is a five and a half years course, including one year piloting course. In the first four years, pilot students fly about 45 hours on the aircraft DHC-1 Chipmunk. After the masters’ thesis, on the last year, pilots students fly the aircraft Aerospatiale Epsilon TB-30 during elementary and basic training..
Engineering and administration students, apart from the course units taught at PoAFA, also attend course units at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, Lisbon) and Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG, Lisbon), respectively. They spent the first three years at the PoAFA, where. After the third year, they go to our civilian universities partners to finish the bachelor degree and ingress in the master degree.
Medicine students do all their scientific education at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.
The undergraduate degrees are essentially training programmes for technical officers who are under short-term contract to the Air Force and want to become commissioned officers.
PoAFA also offers a post-graduation on Aeronautical Medicine, available for military and civilian medical doctors.
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In 1993 the European Air Chiefs Conference (EURAC) was established with the main objective finding new methods of study and co-operation among European Air Forces – within and out of NATO. In this context a considerable importance has been given for a common vision in the ways of education and formation of future officers
Consequently the European Air Force Academies (EUAFA) Commanders’ Conference has been established as a forum of experts in order to exchange information, co-operate and identify areas of common interest to carry out activities, with the largest possible participation of all the member nations, in the field of officer education and training.
EUAFA mission is to encourage mutual education through the sharing of information on officer training by promoting academic and military exchanges concerning cadet and instructor training.
The (EUAFA) Commandants’ Conference comprises of the Commandants of the Air Force Academies of the following European countries:
AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, CZECH REPUBLIK, DENMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TURKEY, UNITED KINGDOM.
The members of the conference annually elect a Chairman, who is responsible for the preparation of the meetings and who acts as Point of Contact (POC) for all members.
The Chairman, who is appointed for one year for the period between two Commandants’ Conferences, is the Commandant (or his representative) of the Academy that is designated to host the conference at the end of his term.
In order to find common elements within the syllabi of the EUAFAs a Working Group was established in 1998. The ultimate goal was to identify portions of the individual training and education programs that might be suitable for common training and/or mutual exchanges
The EUAFA Working Group is responsible for the following tasks: view the member nations syllabi and focus on common fields within which to provide a basis for future co-operation in training and cadet exchanges; gather, update and disseminate the Databank (available at the website, and updated by the appropriate Working Group member) containing:
In order to achieve a better understanding regarding main areas of training in each country’s officer training syllabus and from which common areas of interest could be found: