{"id":110,"date":"2025-12-09T19:12:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/?p=110"},"modified":"2025-12-09T19:12:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:12:45","slug":"argentina-takes-delivery-of-initial-six-f-16-fighters-from-denmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/?p=110","title":{"rendered":"Argentina takes delivery of initial six F-16 fighters from Denmark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Argentina has received its first tranche of secondhand Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters under a deal with Denmark.<\/p>\n

Six F-16A\/Bs ferried from Denmark to Argentina arrived on 6 December, marking the restoration of supersonic fighter capability for the Argentine air force (FAA) after decades of crippling restrictions\u00a0following the 1982 Falklands War.<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s defence ministry describes the milestone as the country\u2019s most significant military acquisition in 40 years and a \u201chistoric transformation of national defence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Four two-seat F-16Bs and two single-seat F-16As made the transatlantic journey in four legs, with aerial refuelling support from US Air Force (USAF) Boeing KC-135 tankers.<\/p>\n

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\"Argentina<\/p>\n

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Source: Argentine ministry of defence<\/cite><\/p>\n

A total of 24 F-16A\/Bs will be ferried across the Atlantic from Denmark to Argentina over the next three years<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Video footage provided by the FAA shows aviators wearing the Danish flag at the stick of each F-16, while Argentinian officers occupied the back seat of the four F-16Bs.<\/p>\n

The ferry flight had launched from the Royal Danish Air Force\u2019s (RDAF\u2019s) Skrydstrup fighter base with intermediate stops in Zaragosa, Spain; the Canary Islands; and Natal, Brazil.<\/p>\n

As part of the route, the fighters completed a formation flyover of Argentia\u2019s capital Buenos Aires with a USAF KC-135.\u00a0The transfer was completed at an Argentine air base in Rio Cuarto, where the six fighters were met by Argentina\u2019s President Javier Milei\u00a0and defence minister Luis Petri.<\/p>\n

Milei\u00a0described the arrival of the tactical jets as a \u201cstep forward on this path to greatness\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese planes are a symbol of the Argentina we are building. These F-16s are the new guardians of Argentine airspace,\u201d Milei\u00a0said on 6 December.<\/p>\n

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The US embassy in Buenos Aires says the rest of the jets will be delivered over three subsequent flights, with the last batch of six set to land in Argentina in December 2028.\u00a0The fighters will initially operate from Rio Cuarto\u00a0before transitioning to a permanent base in\u00a0Tandil.<\/p>\n

Argentina has not operated a modern jet-powered fighter since the\u00a0retirement<\/strong>\u00a0of its last Dassault Mirage IIIs in 2015. The country\u2019s paltry fighter inventory includes 23 aged Douglas A-4 subsonic light-attack jets and 11 indigenously produced IA-63 Pampa III trainers, assembled by Fabrica Argentina de Aviones.<\/p>\n

Following Argentina\u2019s defeat by the UK in the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina has been heavily restricted from acquiring advanced military technology, including new fighters.<\/p>\n

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Buenos Aires had for years sought new tactical jets, including replacement Mirages, Swedish Saab Gripens, Israel Aircraft Industries Kfirs and Korea Aerospace Industries FA-50 light fighters.<\/p>\n

The UK had successfully blocked those efforts by barring Argentina from accessing UK-made defence hardware, including the Martin-Baker ejection seats found in many fighters, and BAE Systems avionics and aircraft.<\/p>\n

London also exerted diplomatic pressure on allies to block any deal involving American or European aircraft.<\/p>\n

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\"Argentine<\/p>\n

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Source: Argentine ministry of defence<\/cite><\/p>\n

Four two-seat F-16Bs and two single-seat F-16As made the trans-Atlantic journey from Denmark to Argentina, supported by a US Air Force KC-135 tanker<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That situation changed in 2023 when US regulators in Washington, DC approved a third-party sale of American-made F-16s from Denmark to Argentina.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That move was prompted in large part by flirtations between Buenos Aires and China over the sale of\u00a0JF-17 fighters<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 a joint product of China\u2019s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.<\/p>\n

London\u2019s approval was not required for the transfer, as the F-16 uses the American-made Collins Aerospace ACES II ejection seat.<\/p>\n

Milei touts the arrival of the of the new fighters as correcting \u201cdecades of mistreatment\u201d of the country\u2019s armed forces by authorities in Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPrevious governments had left us defenceless,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Argentina and Denmark\u00a0finalised<\/strong>\u00a0the sale agreement in 2024 covering 24 F-16s that were in the process of being retired as the RDAF\u00a0fields<\/strong>\u00a0the newer Lockheed F-35.<\/p>\n

The remainder of Denmark\u2019s F-16 fleet is being donated to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Washington provided a $40 million grant to the Milei government through the Pentagon\u2019s Foreign Military Financing system to act as a downpayment on a $560 million training and support package for the 24 F-16s, according to the US embassy in Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arrival of the F-16s strengthens Argentina\u2019s air-defence capabilities and supports operations coordination with the United States, and other NATO partners, reflecting a long-term commitment to cooperation between Argentina and the United States,\u201d the embassy says.<\/p>\n

The embassy does not specify whether or not the support package includes armaments for the F-16s.<\/p>\n

An unfinalised $1 billion Foreign Military Sales request\u00a0approved<\/strong>\u00a0in 2024 included\u00a0Raytheon AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, Mk82 226kg (500lb) general purpose bombs and Raytheon GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs for Argentina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Argentina has received its first tranche of secondhand Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters under a deal with Denmark. Six F-16A\/Bs ferried from Denmark to Argentina arrived…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[54,56,55],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-technology-news","tag-argentina","tag-denmark","tag-f-16-fighters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}