Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Taiana said the Malvinas Islands were to be restored “sooner rather than later... to its legitimate owners.” He made those remarks to veterans from the 1982 war attending the reopening of the Air Force's Base in Rìo Gallegos, from where converted training IA-63 Pampa III jets with fighting capabilities will “monitor and control” the South Atlantic enclave. The unit had not had combat aircraft since 1996.
Argentina's Defense Minister Jorge Taiana is to head the country's delegation at the Argentine ward of the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE) in Santiago, Chile, where he will try to attract potential customers for the IA-63 jet trainer Pampa.
Argentina's Air Force will have no combat aircraft by 2018 since by then the three A4-AR Fightinghawk which remain operational will be decommissioned, according to Argentine defense sources. At the end of 2015, the outgoing Cristina Fernandez administration witnessed the definitive decommissioning of the few operational French built Mirage III.
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.
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.
Argentine jet trainer manufacturer FAdeA has been banned from installing a British made ejection seat in a new version of the Pampa by the government of President Cristina Fernandez, according to company boss Raul Arganaraz.