A New Chapter On The Argentina Fighter Jet Soap Opera

[camberiu]

Yesterday, during the roll out launch of the Brazilian EMBRAER KC-390 military cargo plane, Argentina defense minister Augustin Rossi announced that Argentina will acquire 24 highly advanced latest generation Saab Gripen NG jet fighters. The planes will be produced in Brazil under license from the Swedish Saab manufacturer. Brazil currently holds exclusive rights to manufacture, market and sell the Swedish plane for all of Latin America and Africa.

Original news in Portuguese here
In Spanish here
In Swedish here

An interesting twist on this story is that the highly advanced AESA radar used by the Gripen NG is designed and built by the very British company SELEX ES, based in Edinburgh. So, it will be fascinating to see how this will play out. I am having a blast with this tale, that has more drama, twists and turns than any Mexican or Venezuelan soap opera.

 

[Gringoboy]

Excellent story mate.
I'd lost track of those fighter planes when I thought Arg were buying used ones from Spain, like the trains.
It doesn't say how much this is going to cost and nothing in LN on this.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

This reminds me of the guy I met in a bar in South Florida in 2007. We started talking and he said he was ex-military. Then he said he was a Navy Seal ... but first he was a Navy pilot who flew the F-15 (the Navy doesn't fly F-15s). I went along with the story. He said he had been in Desert Storm and had to bail out of his F-15 that got shot down by a Mig-29 (the Iraqi's didn't have Mig-29's). He was able to escape back to his unit by masquerading as a Bedouin. When he got back the Navy had taken so many casualties in their Seal team that they asked him to help based upon his ability to evade. I asked which Seal Team. He said Seal Team Six (Seal Team Six wasn't in Desert Storm). At that point I'd had enough of the poser and called BS on all of his stories in front of the entire bar. Obviously, he couldn't answer even a simple question on how a jet operates, nor any other question about the action in Desert Storm. His buddies then snickered and replied, "Yea, we always knew he was full of sh*t."

 

[camberiu]

I went along with the story. He said he had been in Desert Storm and had to bail out of his F-15 that got shot down by a Mig-29 (the Iraqi's didn't have Mig-29's).

Don't know about the rest of the story, but that part he got right. At the start of Desert Storm, the Iraqi air force had 30+ MIG-29s on its inventory. Most were shot down or fled to Iran.

 

[camberiu]

Excellent story mate.
I'd lost track of those fighter planes when I thought Arg were buying used ones from Spain, like the trains.
It doesn't say how much this is going to cost and nothing in LN on this.

I think at this point no one takes whatever Argentina says about fighter jets seriously. The Gripen NG is a US$ 70 million plane (with no weapons). So for 24 jets, we are talking about a US$1.6 billion purchase, and we are not even talking about arming the planes, training the pilots and doing maintenance, as these costs are extra. This is nothing but posturing. It is not happening.

 

[Gringoboy]

GS, that reminds me of special forces who operate out of Hereford, England, which is where I used to live.
A family member served in that group until recently and it was a standing joke around town, that for every one bloke who served, there were at least a further 100 blokes who said thay had served.
I met a few and you could always call them out.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Don't know about the rest of the story, but that part he got right. At the start of Desert Storm, the Iraqi air force had 30+ MIG-29s on its inventory. Most were shot down or fled to Iran.

I meant to say that the Iraqi's didn't have Mig-29's flying against us that made kills. There was only one air-to-air kill in the air campaign and that was a Russian pilot who shot down Scott Speicher.

 

[camberiu]

The Ukraine also wants the Saab Gripen NG for its air force. I think a Gripen flying Ukrainian colors is 1000% more likely than a Gripen flying while painted in Argentine colors.


Ukraine returns to the idea of Swedish JAS-39 licence production

 

[nikad]

GS, that reminds me of special forces who operate out of Hereford, England, which is where I used to live.
A family member served in that group until recently and it was a standing joke around town, that for every one bloke who served, there were at least a further 100 blokes who said thay had served.
I met a few and you could always call them out.

That kind of BS helps them get girls...then you expat guys complain about our local chamuyeros

 

[camberiu]

That kind of BS helps them get girls...then you expat guys complain about our local chamuyeros

Wait, what??????
What kind of girl falls for this shit?