Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo – who was Chief of Staff of the Navy, coordinator of  the task force against covid-19 and candidate for the Presidency of the Republic – delivered this Friday, the 23rd, the inaugural class of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Minho for the 2026/27 academic year.

The session had the theme “Drone Technology and Modern Warfare” and began at 2:30 pm, in the noble auditorium of the Azurém campus, in Guimarães, with free admission. It was a privileged moment to reflect on the challenges and opportunities posed by unmanned systems and aerospace technologies, contributing to the scientific and cultural enrichment of the community. Gouveia e Melo has experience in the implementation of these systems in the Portuguese Navy and the area of drones is emerging, and it is essential that future engineers come into contact with different applications.

The event lasted one hour and included the interaction between the admiral and the students. The session was welcomed by the president of the School of Engineering of UMinho, António Vicente, followed by the director of the master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Gustavo Dias, with a summary of the inaugural classes of the course, which has already had names such as Manuel Heitor and Elvira Fortunato, former ministers of Science, Technology and Higher Education; Ricardo Conde, president of the Portuguese Space Agency; Carlos Batalha, then coordinator of the Innovation and Organizational Transformation Division of the Portuguese Air Force; or Miguel Belló Mora, president of the European nanosatellite launcher Orbex.