Beja's district Air Base No. 11 (BA11) is home to Portugal's most advanced optical telescope, which has started tracking space objects. The nation's defence and satellite operations both benefit from the data acquired by this telescope, which is the result of a 25 million euro investment, using funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

General Cartaxo Alves, the Chief of the Portuguese Air Force (FAP) General Staff has highlighted that the installation of this telescope represents “one of the first major steps” towards implementing the FAP’s new strategy focused on space. “We are much better equipped to respond to future challenges facing our country,” he stressed

The head of the FAP Space Operations Centre, Colonel Pedro Costa, also addressed the matter, stating that the telescope "will track and monitor objects in space, whether operational satellites or space debris." As he continued explaining, “We are filming, making short films, during the night, which is the period in which the sensor operates, of the objects that reflect the light and, with this information, based on a catalogue, it allows us to identify the object in question”.

The optical telescope, which is situated close to the runway within the boundaries of the Beja air base, recently began full operation following a two-month-long testing phase. The director of the FAP Space Operations Centre highlighted this optical telescope as one of the most sophisticated in the world, stating that it was made to take pictures at a range of "between 300 and 8,000 kilometres".