Crazy Low Flying Argentinians

[Jaredberryman]

Argentines should be glad they lost that war, really. It caused the military government to collapse, and that can't be all bad. Really, I think these military leaders had become a bit crazy with their power, just like Cristina. My mother-in-law tells me that during the malvinas war, everyone gave away food so that it could be shipped to the troops, and then the officers took that food, didn't give it to the soldiers and turned right around and sold it back in Argentina. How can you expect to win a war when half your troops are hungry? I'm glad that the war ended when it did, because imagine if the British would have decided to attack the mainland and the damage it would have caused. In my opinion, one of the silliest wars ever conducted that harmed lots of people's lives, all so a few politicians and generals could score political points. I have a friend who fought in that war (on the ground), and to this day he snaps suddenly and gets angry due to post-traumatic stress. It took him years of work with psychologists and lots of prayer with people from his church to get him through that ugly faze to where he can live a normal life. When I see that guy and what the war did to him it makes me angry that these idiots could have let a war like that happen. Wars like Malvinas/Falklands are poster child for those of us who believe in Pacific resistance.

 

[dennisr]

Argentina strikes £145million deal for 20 Mirage warplanes. Did they get the easy payment plan? Lend-Lease?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/falklands-alert-argentina-strikes-145million-2121901

 

[camberiu]

Talk about sensationalistic headlines. But hey, it is The Mirror, right?

So Argentina "might" be buying 20 Mirage F1s from Spain. Absolutely incredible aircraft. Probably the best planes ever designed by Dassault Aviation. Those planes could potentially completely alter the air balance of power in the South Atlantic, had they been acquired say.....30 years ago.

You see, these are really old planes, designed in the early 70s. The Mirage F1 was superseded by the Mirage 2000, which is currently at the end of its life. The Mirage 2000s both in France and in Brazil are currently being phased out and retired. That is the plane that came AFTER the plane that the Argentinians might be buying. The Falklands, on the other hand, are protected by the Eurofighter Typhoon. A plane that is two generations ahead of the Mirage F1. The price that Argentina is paying for 20 Mirage F1s could not pay for 2 Typhoons or 2 Rafales (The Mirage F1 grandson).
Argentina is basically buying USED old planes to replace its ANCIENT Mirage 3s. It will also be interesting to see how Argentina will maintain those planes. These are used planes, probably pretty beaten up. Most of the spare parts for it are no longer being manufactured. Argentina is probably going to cannibalize some of the planes for parts to keep others flying.
The Falklands are as safe as ever.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

It's like going to the Indianapolis 500 with a 1982 Chevrolet Corvette.

 

[camberiu]

So, it seems that the old Mirage F-1s from Spain will be acquired by Argentina after all. Bellow is a scan the 2014 Federal budget, signed by Lorenzino himself and it includes the planes.

 

[jackbower]

This has to be a corrupt backroom deal. Why the heck is Argentina buying Spains obsolete garbage? Even Ecuador is phasing these tin cans out. Whoever set this deal up has to be getting a hefty kickback. This plane is completely worthless in modern combat. Chile has the f16 D block, Brazil is most likely going to purchase the f18s ( might not happen after the whole nsa bit ) and Venezuela has the SU30 mkv. And here comes Argentina with their 1970s used f1s? They should just save their money instead of wasting it on junk. They should have bought the chinese j17s if they were strapped for cash though I would have liked to see them get some migs. I think for the money the MiGs would have been their best bet.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Shouldn't have bothered at all. Spend the money on teachers or trains.

Waste of time.

 

[glasgowjohn]

CFK should listen to the Pope - violence does not solve anything - she should take a major step forward and declare Argentina a peaceful nation and disband the army , the air force and the navy

 

[camberiu]

This has to be a corrupt backroom deal. Why the heck is Argentina buying Spains obsolete garbage? Even Ecuador is phasing these tin cans out. Whoever set this deal up has to be getting a hefty kickback. This plane is completely worthless in modern combat. Chile has the f16 D block, Brazil is most likely going to purchase the f18s ( might not happen after the whole nsa bit ) and Venezuela has the SU30 mkv. And here comes Argentina with their 1970s used f1s? They should just save their money instead of wasting it on junk. They should have bought the chinese j17s if they were strapped for cash though I would have liked to see them get some migs. I think for the money the MiGs would have been their best bet.

If the goal is to simply maintain the status of having a "super sonic" air force and nothing else, the F1s make perfect sense. For a few hundred million dollars you get 20 planes, all the tooling, manuals and supplements that the Spanish Air force has and you are done. If you buy MIGs and Chinese fighters, you have to pay for the price of the planes plus extra for the maintenance contract, completely new tools and supplements that are entirely different from the western standards that Argentina has used so far. So, it is much more expensive.
I don't think the ultimate goal is to have a truly combat capable air force. The goal is to simply maintain some type of status. Remember that Argentina was the first country in Latin America to have combat jets and to have super sonic planes. But the MIRAGE III, which were the first super sonic planes used south of the Rio Grande, are just too old to fly. If they are retired without replacement, Argentina's air force will be at the same technological level as the Paraguayan or Bolivian air forces, which for some is unacceptable. So, to maintain an illusion of progress, you buy a bunch of old F1s from Spain which can be used to fly during national dates and that is it.

Fianlly, after the NSA scandal, I very much doubt Brazil will buy the F-18E Super Hornet, which used to be a certain deal. The race now is between the French Rafale and the Swedish Gripen NG.

 

[camberiu]

Also, another motivation for this is the fact that Chile has just sold its old F-5 Tiger 3 to Uruguay. Although these planes are old, they have been extensively upgraded with modern Israeli electronics. This means that tiny Uruguay would have a much more powerful air force than Argentina, if the F1s are not acquired. Even after the arrival of the F1s, Uruguay might still have a better air force than its bigger southern neighbor, since the electronics on the Tiger 3s is much newer than on the old F1s.