MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Air Force bought a used aircraft at double its market price, Clarín investigation finds

Regional One Inc. won the bid with an ERJ-140LR for $4.085M and 33,516 flight hours, despite cannibalized parts, corrosion, leaks, and four fewer seats than the only other bidder's aircraft.

The Argentine Air Force (FAA) acquired in 2025 an Embraer ERJ-140LR aircraft for USD 4.085 million, nearly double the price the same provider had quoted for an equivalent and better-conditioned plane to a private client just months later, according to an investigation published on Saturday by the newspaper Clarín. The transaction, awarded to the US firm Regional One Inc. in a tender resolved in record time and challenged by a competitor, displays irregularities in the design of the bidding terms, the technical evaluation, and the payment circuit, and forms part, according to the publication, of a pattern replicated in at least three other aircraft purchases by the force since 2021.

The international public tender was initiated on 6 May 2025 at the request of Commodore Pedro Rolando Largel, head of the aerial material maintenance department, an operational position that does not contemplate defining transport needs for the first air brigade. The budget was set at USD 3.9 million, just below the USD 4 million threshold that allows direct authorization without involvement from the Ministry of Defense. The tender was published on 30 May with a two-week window to submit offers, a period that multiple aeronautical sector operators consulted by Clarín described as insufficient to prepare a proposal without prior information.

A clarifying circular issued on 5 June restricted the eligible aircraft to three specific models (ERJ-140LR, ERJ-145LR, and ERJ-145XR), an intervention that a force official attributed to the goal of ensuring that only the preselected provider could meet the specifications. Only two companies submitted bids. The winning firm, Regional One Inc., offered an Embraer ERJ-140LR priced at USD 4.085 million with 33,516 flight hours, cannibalized equipment, corrosion in brakes and landing gear, signs of oil and fuel leaks, and four fewer seats than the aircraft of the rejected bidder. The plane had already been painted with the FAA livery since 2023, as the newspaper corroborated.

In August 2025, Regional One quoted a private client an aircraft of the same characteristics and in better condition for USD 2.3 million, which would place the overpricing close to 50%. Payment was channeled through an escrow account administered by a third party, a modality that Clarín describes as compatible with reduced traceability in international transactions. The investigation identifies as the architects of the process a group of senior officers of the force, including Brigadiers Francisco Edgardo Leguiza, Xavier Julián Isaac, Fabián Capellino, Rubén Ángel Morado, and Álvaro José Daniele, along with civilian technical adviser Daniel Sergio Burlas, and identifies as part of the same web the acquisition of a Boeing 737-700 and a Saab SF-340 in 2021 and two Embraer ERJ-140LR in 2023, all from Regional One.