This Tuesday, the Argentine Government will sign the purchase contract for 24 American F-16 fighters in Copenhagen. They are combat aircraft about four decades old, which Denmark sells to replace them with the modern F-35, and which the Executive headed by the ultra Javier Milei preferred to the new JF-17 offered by China with better weapons equipment. The final decision has been geostrategic: the United States is interested in stopping the Chinese advance in Latin America and Milei is interested in being appreciated as an unconditional partner of Washington and Israel. Unlike his predecessors, the Argentine president has chosen to distance himself from the Asian giant without caring about the commercial and financial ties that exist between the two countries. Defense and aviation experts defend the choice of the F-16s that will begin to arrive in the country in 2025, but they warn that there is a second contract pending signing with the United States that is key: what will be the weapons system with which they will be equipped the airplanes. The total estimated cost is around $360 million, which Washington will partially finance.
Years ago, Argentina began the search for aircraft that would allow it to recover the supersonic capacity lost a decade ago, when it decommissioned the Mirage with which it fought in the Malvinas Islands war in 1982 against the United Kingdom. The biggest obstacle was always the British veto. London opposes the sale of any military equipment containing British components to safeguard its dominance of the South Atlantic islands against Argentina's sovereignty claims over them. That veto forced Argentina to discard the Swedish Gripen, one of the options being considered, and left behind the Super Etendard that former president Mauricio Macri bought with the argument of repelling a possible attack during the G-20 summit held at the end of 2018. The British refused to sell spare parts for the seats and those planes were never able to take off.
Now, the most competitive offers that the Argentine Government had on the table were the Danish F-16 and the JF-17 offered by China. The F-16 are multipurpose aircraft, that is, they can carry out a wide range of tasks, from combat between aircraft to attacking ground targets. They are fast, easy to maneuver and have been used by the air forces of almost thirty countries. “They have in their favor that they are airplanes with a very proven system, with more than 50 years of experience,” highlights security and defense specialist Andrei Serbin Pont. The JF-17s have more modern technology and China was willing to deliver them with a range of more modern and longer-range weapons. “The JF-17 generated doubts about its logistical support because it was a poorly tested system and because of its modernization costs,” he compares. He also highlights that the purchase of military aviation is always a long-term bet in which it is necessary to have the guarantee that the supplier will provide training and spare parts.
“The first offer from the United States for the F-16s was not very good because it included only airplanes with very basic weapons,” says historian and defense analyst Santiago Rivas. “That is why we began to move forward with China, which offered weapons of all kinds and made that offer more tempting, although it had the disadvantage that it was a totally unknown system that is only used by Pakistan, Myanmar and Nigeria, and it implied the risk that If it could not be adapted, it would be out of service,” continues Rivas, director of the magazine specialized in military aviation Pucara Defensa. “As a result of progress with China, the United States greatly improved the offer and included air-to-air missiles, surface missiles, advanced target recognition and electronic warfare equipment,” he says about the weapons package that is about to be finalized.
Diplomat Diego Guelar celebrates the end of the British veto that entails the sale of these aircraft thanks to the United States' fight “tooth and nail” to ensure that China is not a major arms supplier in Latin America. “The JF-17 is a good product and China facilitated credit and provided it with weapons,” says Guelar, who was ambassador to the two powers that dominate the international board today.
Deterrence capacity
In its first months, the Milei Government has applied a severe cut in public spending on pensions and areas such as education, health, science and public works that contrasts with investment in defense. Why does Argentina need fighter planes? At a time when the world is experiencing an escalation of war, they represent a deterrence tool against potential external threats. The F-16 block 15 that will arrive in Argentina have been modernized and maintained in very good condition by Denmark. Despite its age, experts agree that with them the Argentine Air Force will once again be among the most advanced in the region, only behind Brazil and close to Chile.
However, only when the arms agreement with the United States is signed will the doubts that persist, given the bad experience of previous acquisitions, be dispelled. The most remembered is that of the thirty Fightinghawk fighters purchased by the neoliberal Peronist Carlos Menem in 1997. “Then weapons were not negotiated, airplanes were purchased and at the time it was proposed that the weapons would be purchased later, but it never happened. ”recalls Rivas. “For the presidents' summit held in Mar del Plata in 2004, the United States delivered some missiles, very few,” he adds about the initial fear in the Armed Forces that the same thing would now be repeated.
Of the fighters purchased by Menem, “eight remain in condition,” former Defense Minister Jorge Taiana said days ago. The veteran Peronist politician stressed that Argentina had a real need to recover supersonic capacity and welcomed the fact that the United States authorized a purchase for which Great Britain did not assert its veto. Still, he made it clear that the move is very convenient for Washington. “The US objective is not for us to have the F-16s, it is for us not to have Chinese aircraft,” Taiana stated in dialogue with the online media El Destape.
Although they improved the initial offer, the weapons that the Argentine fighters will be equipped with will not pose an effective threat to the British defense of the Malvinas Islands. “Everything is short and medium range, defensive. That is the British request to the United States. It is not useful for a possible conflict with the British,” a former senior military leader consulted told the newspaper Clarín.
The Argentine Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, will lead the signing of the purchase of aircraft to replace Milei, as was the original plan. The president had undergone medical studies to fly as a co-pilot on one of the aircraft, but Iran's attack on Israel made him suspend the trip to Denmark and return to Buenos Aires to head a crisis committee. Argentina is the country with the largest Jewish community in Latin America and three decades ago it was the victim of two terrorist attacks against Israeli targets. While Petri strengthens the country's air defense system, Argentina's internal borders reinforce security for fear of a new attack.