Vasco Xavier Mesquita, Partner at Morais Leitão responsible for the firm's Defence practice, moderated, on 29 May, another session of the Advocatus Summit Talks, dedicated to the theme "Defence and Space of the New Generation". The debate, held at Estúdio ECOLisboa, in Lisbon, brought together Francisco Vilhena da Cunha, CEO of GeoSat, Francisco Oom Peres, COO of Orion Technik, and José Maria Couceiro da Costa, Adviser to the Deputy Secretary of State for National Defence, to discuss Portugal's growing role in the defence and space sectors.
The debate on defence and space in Portugal
Under the guidance of Vasco Xavier Mesquita, the conversation covered the geostrategic repositioning of national companies entering the defence market, the Azores' role as an Atlantic space platform, with the creation of a space hub in Santa Maria, and Portugal's record contribution to the European Space Agency, in the order of 220 million euros. The fragmentation of the European defence industry was also discussed, with speakers diverging on whether the sector is heading towards greater cohesion or towards a division into industrial semi-blocs.
Legal and regulatory challenges in the space sector
The speakers discussed when a satellite may be considered a legitimate target in an armed conflict, a topic that exposes gaps in international law in the context of hybrid warfare, and stressed the importance of ensuring that the final decision on the use of artificial intelligence in this domain always remains under human control. The need for Portugal to identify niches of specialisation, such as Earth observation, microlaunchers and sovereign communications, rather than focusing solely on increasing defence spending, was also highlighted.
Watch the full panel discussion here.
