The Argentine Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, signed this Tuesday in Buenos Aires a letter of intent to purchase 24 combat aircraft F-16 to Denmark for something more than 300 million dollarsalong with his Danish counterpart Troels Lund Poulsen, the minister reported in his X account.
“We received a visit from the Minister of Defense of Denmark, Troels Lund Poulsen, with whom we signed a letter of intent for the acquisition of F-16 aircraft and support equipment. We are laying the foundations for cooperation in the defense area between Denmark , the United States and Argentina,” he wrote in a message from X Petri.
The Danish ministry confirmed the operation and stressed that it was carried out with the approval of the United States government, aircraft manufacturing country. The price of the 24 aircraft is expected to be around 2.1 billion Danish crowns ($303 million).
The Minister @luispetri and his pair from Denmark @troelslundp signed a letter of intent to advance the purchase of F-16 aircraft. Investment in defense is once again a priority. We are equipping our Forces and recovering the country's supersonic capacity. pic.twitter.com/M75KLWBz1Q
— Ministry of Defense (@MindefArg) March 26, 2024
“The Danish defense is immersed in a process of generational change, in which our F-16 aircraft are gradually being retired in favor of the new F-35 fighters,” Lund Poulsen detailed in a statement.
“Denmark is going to donate 19 F-16s to Ukraine, and the Danish Government has decided to sell 24 Danish F-16 fighters to Argentina. I am therefore very pleased that we have today signed a joint declaration of intent to complete the sale.” , concluded the Danish minister.
In addition to airplanes, The sale includes engines, spare parts, simulators and training equipment.
In recent years, the press has echoed the proposals of China and India to reconstitute the Argentine Air Force, which in 2017 separated from its last Mirage, once a key aircraft in its defense scheme, after four decades of service. .
What is the Argentine army looking for with this purchase?
According to the Argentine press, An investment of these characteristics has not been made in that country for 30 yearsfor which the government of Javier Milei highlights the importance of renewing the air fleet.
“With the acquisition of these aircraft, essential to recover the supersonic capacity of the Argentina air forcethe final stage of a process begins whose objective is to strengthen the capabilities of the military instrument,” the ministry highlighted in a statement.
Essentially, the Argentine Ministry of Defense revealed that it seeks to accelerate a stage of modernization of the “Argentine military instrument.”
“It should be noted that Argentina – the eighth largest country in the world, with enormous amounts of natural resources and extensive borders – has not made a purchase of these characteristics for 30 years. In this way, the Armed Forces can fulfill their mission of caring for national sovereignty,” the Ministry of Defense clarified in a press release.
According to the description made by the manufacturer of the F-16 fighter, this is a combat aircraft that “can locate targets in all weather conditions and detect low-flying aircraft by radar. In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 can fly more than 860 kilometers, deliver its weapons with superior precision, defend against enemy aircraft and return to its starting point.”
Besides, It is equipped with a 20-millimeter bullet barrel and can carry up to 500 cartridges.. It can carry six air-to-air missiles, conventional ammunition, among others. Each plane weighs almost nine tons and can fly at more than 2,000 kilometers per hour (match 2).
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