Why Is Israel Fixing Argentina’S Decrepit Weapons?

[camberiu]

Good question. Maybe the government got excited about the wopping US$30 billion sitting as reservers right now.

"Late last week, Argentine Defense Minister ​Agustín Rossi announced that he’d signed an agreement with the head of SIBAT, the Defense Ministry’s International Defense Cooperation directorate, Brig. Gen (ret.) Michel Ben Baruch. The deal, worth $111 million, will provide Israeli upgrades for a fleet of 74 Argentine TAM tanks, most of which are around 40 years old."
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Side Note - The TAM (Tanque Argentino Mediano ) was conceived in the 70s to spearhead a hypothetical Argentine invasion of Southern Brazil through the pampas. Very modern and capable for the time, it would have made short work of the World War II era tanks that the Brazilian army had back then.

 

[Joe]

I imagine the technologies of the Argentine defense industry are lacking. Israel is a leader in defense technology as a matter of survival.

 

[camberiu]

I imagine the technologies of the Argentine defense industry are lacking. Israel is a leader in defense technology as a matter of survival.

Today yes. Back in the day, they were pretty advanced. Argentina had domestically designed and build fighter jets in the 1950s. They were building German designed submarines by the 1970s.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Maybe the question should be "why is this country spending over U$D 100 million on repairing 40 year old tanks". Not one million, not two million but over a hundred Million dollars !!!???.
My immediate guess is that this is a last minute attempt for some quick kick back / bribery schemes before the K's leave office.
It's like repairing 40 year old Ford Falcons as the new police fleet. And why do we need tanks in the first place ?
Are we on the verge of being invaded by Chile ? Bolivia ? Paraguay ?... I think that money could be better spent elsewhere than on 40 year old tanks.
As the article says those tanks never saw a single day of military service. Another complete waste of money by the current administration.

http://www.haaretz.c...69,2.216,2.218,

 

[camberiu]

Maybe the question should be "why is this country spending over U$D 100 million on repairing 40 year old tanks". Not one million, not two million but over a hundred Million dollars !!!???.

Besides the obvious bribes and skimming opportunities brought by this deal, these tanks have a symbolic meaning that currently fit well into the industrial self-sufficiency narrative that K uses to justify her policies. The TAMs in many ways represent an icon of a bygone era, when Argentina could manufacture by itself, advanced and complex industrial products. Never mind that the design of the tank required extensive hep from Germany's Thyssen-Krupp company. Never Mind that many critical components of the tank, including the gun itself, was imported from the UK.
The TAM represents a era where Argentina enjoyed an industrial/technological status in the region that many would like to see come back. If these tanks were not refurbished, they would have been sent to the scrap yard, and their symbolism would die with them. So why not spend a few hundred million to keep alive this symbol that K can you to point to and say": Look at the TAM and everything that it represents. I can take you back to that time, that era. Argentina will be an industrial power to be reckon with once again. The trade barriers and the Fotebol para todos will take us there. Trust me."

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Refurbished armory could reduce the threat of Uruguayan invasion. ¡Tanques Para Todos!

 

[MartyBA]

The Marder platform is still quite capable, maybe not for a Main Battle Tank, but for a personal carrier such as the VCTP or the Palmaria 155mm howitzer, it does a decent job. I can't justify the 100m price tag but I guess the only reason to keep the TAMs is because they are the only ones capable of crossing over most of the bridges that would succumb under the weight of a heavier MTB like the Leopard...

 

[camberiu]

Back in the 1970, the Marder platform was beyond revolutionary in the South American theater, where the armies of Brazil and Chile were armed with WWII relics, like M4 Shermans and M41 Bulldogs.
The TAM project generated a lot of concern in the Brazilian high command, and probably outright panic in Chile. The Brazilian brass was so concerned that the response was to locally design and build a full blown Main Battle Tank on the same league as the M1 Abrams, the Leopard II and the British Challenger, the EE-T 1 Osorio. It was a ridiculously complex and expensive piece of equipment, with a gyro-stabilized 120mm smoothbore gun, composite armor, targeting computer, active suspension, night vision, the works. They really wanted something that could completely neutralize the Argentine TAM. It would probably have bankrupted Brazil if produced in large numbers. But with the collapse of Argentina after the Falkland conflict, the Brazilian military lost interest on the tank. The Brazilian company that manufactured it moved forward with the project with its own funds, looking for a foreign buyer, but with no success.

At any rate the Marder was a very frightening platform back then.

 

[scotttswan]

Back in the 1970, the Marder platform was beyond revolutionary in the South American theater, where the armies of Brazil and Chile were armed with WWII relics, like M4 Shermans and M41 Bulldogs.
The TAM project generated a lot of concern in the Brazilian high command, and probably outright panic in Chile. The Brazilian brass was so concerned that the response was to locally design and build a full blown Main Battle Tank on the same league as the M1 Abrams, the Leopard II and the British Challenger, the EE-T 1 Osorio. It was a ridiculously complex and expensive piece of equipment, with a gyro-stabilized 120mm smoothbore gun, composite armor, targeting computer, active suspension, night vision, the works. They really wanted something that could completely neutralize the Argentine TAM. It would probably have bankrupted Brazil if produced in large numbers. But with the collapse of Argentina after the Falkland conflict, the Brazilian military lost interest on the tank. The Brazilian company that manufactured it moved forward with the project with its own funds, looking for a foreign buyer, but with no success.

At any rate the Marder was a very frightening platform back then.

Bet it didn't come with a BV (otherwise known as a kettle) for making a cup of tea.

Similar to every British tank since the Centurion, and most other British AFVs, Challenger 2 contains a boiling vessel (BV) for water, which can be used to brew tea, produce other hot beverages and heat boil-in-the-bag meals contained in field ration packs.[sup][14][/sup] This BV requirement is general for armoured vehicles of the British Armed Forces, and is unique to the armed forces of the UK and India.

 

[camberiu]

But it did come with a still for cachaca.