Textron Aviation’s Beechcraft has received an US$88.2 million contract to supply the Argentina Air Force with T-6 aircraft. The U.S. Air Force contract calls for Beechcraft to supply four T-6C airplanes as well as maintenance, pilot training and interim contractor support for maintenance.
Argentina has few funds available to replace an outdated military fleet beyond buying 12 Beechraft Texan aircraft to train pilots, Defense Minister Julio Martinez admitted. He said actual plans were more modest than those reported by media in Argentina and Brazil in recent months, which said the government was interested in buying war planes from abroad, including from Brazil's Embraer or Mig fighters from Russia.
The dismal state of the Argentine armed forces was revealed by Defense minister Julio Martínez who claimed that the ten/twelve Kirchner years downed more Air Force aircraft than those lost during the South Atlantic conflict in 1982.
Argentina is in the process of purchasing 24 T6-C Texan II training aircraft from the United States, which will also be employed in border control and combating drugs. Apparently the operation has been approved by the US Defense Department and was one of several good news Secretary of State brought last week when he visited Buenos Aires.
Argentina's Defense minister Julio Martínez headed the Air Force's 34th baptism of fire anniversary which took place on May first 1982 during the South Atlantic conflict. The Sunday event at the V Air Brigade in Villa Reynolds, province of San Luis, was also attended by government and military officials, Malvinas veterans and Air Force Chief of Staff Brigadier Major Enrique Victor Amrein.
The number three man in the Argentine Air Force refused to sign the purchase of 14 Israeli refurbished Kfir fighter jets, an operation involving 360 million dollars, and which supposedly would have given the depleted service a breath of fresh air.
Argentine defence minister Agustin Rossi has announced that negotiations for new fighter jets are under way, but will be left to the next government to purchase. Rossi’s decision comes only a day after the Argentine government announced the purchase of Israeli manufactured Kfir fighters.
After almost two years of negotiations and endless speculations surrounding the question of what fighter jet Argentina would go for, Argentine media report that a decision has been made to purchase the IAI Kfir jets to replace the Air Force’s Mirages. According to the report, in Interdefensa Militar Argentina, the decision is currently awaiting final approval from the Cabinet.
The room in Comodoro Rivadavia from where the Argentine Air Force command operated its attacks on the Falkland Islands during the 1982 conflict has been renamed 'Malvinas Hall', and has been declared part of the city's heritage, a place where students and visitors can recall “the ever present Argentine claim over the Malvinas Islands, and the heroism of its pilots”.
Last week the Argentine Air Force formally bid farewell to the remaining French built Mirage jet fighters, which saw combat during the Falkland Islands conflict in 1982, since in three months time they will be decommissioned after four decades service. The occasion was the 103 anniversary of the Air Force (10th August but celebrated on the 13th).