Final negotiations for the acquisition of between 24 and 25 F16 Fighting Falcon supersonic fighter aircraft, which are American but in the possession of Denmark, have entered
their final phase.
The only thing left to do is sign the contract, after a
mission of Danish nationals
met last week with the Minister of Defense, Luis Petri;
with the new head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Xavier Isaac;
and with the new head of the Air Force, Brigadier Fernando Luis Mengo.
Although they do not officially recognize it, the purchase, which
reaches a value of US$ 690 million
, is already in the national budget.
The aircraft that are in talks are
16 single-seaters and 8 two-seaters, plus the possibility of acquiring one more
.
From Lockheed Martin, the F16s are aircraft from the 70s but they are fully operational as seen in the war being fought in Ukraine and in NATO exercises.
There are more than 4,000 sold on the market and the United States gave the green light for the sale to Argentina with its latest model weapons system.
The denials were carried out by Issac, who was head of the Air Force and the former head of EMCO, Juan Martín Paleo.
This Monday, in an austere ceremony, Petri led the inauguration of what are now the civil authorities of the Ministry.
Among them,
the Secretary of Strategy and Military Affairs, Lieutenant General Claudio Ernesto Pascualini;
the Secretary of International Affairs for Defense, academic Juan Battaleme;
and the Secretary of Research, Industrial Policy and Defense Production, Raúl Marino.
Last week Petri had sworn in the new military leadership.
Mengo in FAA, Rear Admiral Carlos Allievi in the Navy;
and Brigadier General Carlos Presti, in the Army.
The Minister of Defense, Luis Petri completed his civil and military team.
In the photo, with his Secretary of Strategy and Military Affairs, Lieutenant General (r) Claudio Ernesto Pascualini and the Secretary of International Affairs, Juan Battaleme Martínez
Although the minister avoided mentioning the aircraft and equipment chosen - among other issues, until the contract is signed the government cannot promote brands, countries or systems - the arrival of the Danish delegation had a high impact here.
On the one hand,
they confirmed that the sale on their part was already closed.
And in all quarters it is stated that the Government is about to announce it.
A United States F16 takes flight at Schleswig-Jagel Air Base in Jagel, Germany, as part of NATO exercisesPhoto.
AP
What is being discussed now are the
payment terms
, the form of financing in which the United States would have been flexible taking into account that its objective is to sell them, that it knows how bankrupt the Argentine State is, and that the important thing is counteract the
temptations that existed in the government of Alberto Fernández to buy the Chinese JF 17 Thunder war fighters.
Beijing's offer was very flexible and dynamic, but it was going to completely change the systems, tradition and even the Argentine doctrine in military and aerial equipment.
But above all, in the midst of international competition from the United States and China, the option for the JF17 Thunder of Chinese origin and Pakistani manufacture
would have left Argentina out of many areas of cooperation with the Americans,
according to They were in charge of transmitting it to the authorities of the Fernández government and Santiago Cafiero.
In this case, it was the former chancellor who gave the green light to the transaction with the US and not the one that was planned with China.
With British approval
In a constant depletion of military equipment since the Falklands War of 1982, which continued under the Menemist government and was aggravated by the lack of budget, the Argentine Force does not have an effective fleet to take care of its air and maritime space.
The urgency worsened after the retirement of 16 Dassault Mirage III fighter aircraft in 2015.
Over the weekend, President Javier Milei “liked” one of his favorite tweeters, nicknamed @TommyShelby, who stated that Denmark had already closed the sale, and that “after 9 years of abandonment, the Argentine Air Force “It will have a fighter plane again.”
The photo was of an F 16 and beyond the information, the important thing was the
endorsement at the highest level with the presidential retweet.
It was also understood that the purchase path is about to be completed in a statement uploaded to Instagram by Brigadier Mengo
.
After numerous meetings and tension in the negotiations with the United States on the one hand and with China on the other, as a result of the conversations surrounding the F16s, the State Department of the Joe Biden administration approved the transfer of F-16s to Argentina.
This also included a
series of talks with the United Kingdom
.
It happens that in 2012, in tensions with former president Cristina Kirchner, London reinforced an old embargo on Argentina that greatly affected this country when it came to even acquiring military equipment and even spare parts on the international market that had components. British.
Today @StateDeptPM's Mira Resnick 🇺🇸 delivered a letter to @JorArguello approving the transfer of F-16 aircraft from Denmark 🇩🇰 to 🇦🇷Argentina.
The transfer reaffirms our close defense ties and steady support for Argentina's air force modernization efforts.
pic.twitter.com/ia4D92An40
— Political-Military Affairs, US Dept of State (@StateDeptPM) October 11, 2023
Although London made it more flexible with the government of Mauricio Macri, and these F 16s do not have British components, Washington always consults its ally.
It was reported that the
Danish F-16s do not use British Martin Baker seats, but rather American-origin Collins Aerospace ACES seats.
The negotiation to extend payment terms is not minor and
the great Argentine problem is economic
and no longer political.
There are so many budgetary problems that an example of this is that this Monday a Norwegian mission arrived in the country and met with Rear Admiral Allievi to finally be paid the fees for the P-3N/C Orion patrol that were purchased for the Navy. and they were not paid.
There is so much shortage that not even the first payment has been made yet.