Lieutenant-General António Martins Pereira was born in 1961 in Gondomar, Portugal, attended high-school at the Salesian School in Oporto and graduated in Military Sciences, Infantry Course from the Military Academy in 1984. He attended the Staff Course and the Flag Officer Promotion Course.
As junior officer and captain, he served at the Infantry School, the Infantry Regiment of Oporto, and at the Special Operations Training Centre. As senior officer, he served at the Headquarters (HQ) of Military Region North, the Land Forces Operational Command and at the Army Doctrine Directorate.
He deployed to Mozambique (1996) and Angola (1998) in the scope of the Military Cooperation.
He was commander of the Special Operations Battalion (2001-2002), the Special Operations Forces Centre (2006-2008) and the Special Operations HQ in the Armed Forces General Staff HQ between February 2012 and June 2014.
At the Command and Staff College, he lectured Tactics, Strategy and International Relations from 1996 to 1998 and, as a guest lecturer, until 2001. He was Director of the Command and Staff Course, between 2005 and 2006.
Between November 1998 and July 2001, he served as Assistant to the Minister of Defence; and as Assistant to the Chief-of Army from June to September 2010.
From 2002 to 2005, he was Military Adviser to the Portuguese Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and from October 2008 to May 2010 he was Military Counsellor to the European Union Ambassador to the African Union in Addis‑Ababa.
He was Deputy Army Inspector General from June 2014 to June 2015, and from July to December 2015, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Joint Command for Military Operations.
From January 2016 to January 2018 he was the Head of Office of His Excellency, the Minister of Defence and from January 2018 to January 2020 he was the Deputy for Planning and Coordination to the Chief of Defence.
From January 2020 to March 2020 he was the Land Forces Commander of the Portuguese Army.
Lieutenant-General Martins Pereira holds a postgraduate degree in International Relations from Portucalense University, a Master’s degree in International Relations and European Studies from Évora University and is a doctoral student in International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at Lisbon’s Nova University.
He is the author of several articles about International Relations and European Studies. He has been a member of the International Relations Committee of the Lisbon Geography Society since 1997 and of the Command and Staff College Defence Research Center since 2013.
He was awarded the following decorations: Military Order of Avis, Grand Officer degree, Distinguished Service Medals (Gold – 3, Silver – 5), Military Merit (1st, 2nd and 3rd Classes); D. Afonso Henriques (1st Class); Good Conduct (Silver and Gold) and Service Medals (Mozambique, Belgium and Ethiopia).
Since March 2022 he is the Commander of the Military University Institute.
Lieutenant-General lives with Ana Paula Costa and has one daughter and two sons.