21st Century and today
In 2003, for the first time, the Argentine Navy (classified as major non-NATO ally) inter-operated with a United States Navy battle group when the destroyer ARA
Sarandí (D-13) joined the USS
Enterprise Carrier Strike Group and Destroyer Squadron 18 as a part of Exercise
Solid Step during their tour in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2010 the construction of four 1,800 ton offshore patrol ships was announced, but
no keel has ever been laid down. Also in May 2010, Defence Minister Nilda Garre announced that the Navy would continue working on a system that would enable the launch of Exocet missiles from the Navy’s P-3 Orion aircraft. In addition, the financing of the local development and construction of a coastal naval defence system that may also be based on the use of Exocet missiles similar to the Excalibur system.
In October 2012 the Navy's sail training ship ARA
Libertad was seized under court order in Ghana by creditors of Argentina's debt default in 2002. On 15 December 2012 the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled unanimously that the ship had immunity as a military vessel, and ordered that "Ghana should forthwith and unconditionally release the frigate ARA
Libertad" Four days later
Libertad was released from Tema and arrived to the port of Mar del Plata on 9 January 2013.
The Argentine Navy is under-funded and struggling to meet maintenance and training requirements, as a result only 15 out of a total of 42 navy vessels are in a condition to sail. The 2013 defence budget allowed for the 15 operational vessels to each spend less than 11 days at sea, while the submarines averaged just over 6 hours submerged in the whole of 2012. ARA Espora spent 73 days in late 2012 stranded in South Africa for lack of spares. The Almirante Brown-class destroyers are short of spares and their ordnance has expired, while the Antarctic patrol ship ARA Almirante Irizar has been under repair since a fire in 2007. On 23 January 2013 the Type 42 destroyer ARA Santísima Trinidad sank at her moorings having been mothballed for ten years.
The Argentine Navy participates in joint exercises with other friendly navies like Brazil, United States, Spain, France, Canada, South Africa, Italy, Uruguay, and since the 1990s, Chile. They are also routinely held in order to develop a common operational doctrine. Every year in conjunction with the Chilean Navy, the Argentine Navy participate in the
Patrulla Antártica Naval Combinada (English: Joint Antarctic Naval Patrol) to guarantee safety to all touristic and scientific ships that are in transit within the Antarctic Peninsula where the Navy is also directly responsible of maintaining the Argentine bases there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_Navy#21st_Century_and_today
A modified type 42 destroyer used as a multi-purpose transport ship.
A modified
Costa Sur cargo ship used as an amphibious cargo ship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Argentine_Navy_ships#Amphibious_support_ships
The
Costa Sur-class cargo ship is a class of three cargo ships designed and built in Argentina in 1975–1979 for servicing the Patagonic coast routes; capable of transporting bulk cargo, live cattle, and containers. In 1998, after the retirement of the tank landing ship
Cabo San Antonio,
Bahía San Blas was converted to an amphibious cargo ship and became the main vessel for use by the Argentine Marines. Since 2004, an Argentine contingent was deployed to Haiti under MINUSTAH mandate and she has been used for logistic support making several voyages to the Caribbean island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Sur-class_cargo_ship
As for the Austin class LPD, only 1 remains active: USS
Ponce is planned to be decommissioned in 2018. The next newest decommissioned is USS
Denver (2014). The US government has offered to sell that ship to Malaysia to replace KD
Sri Inderapura which was destroyed by fire in an accident in 2009.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin-class_amphibious_transport_dock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ponce_(LPD-15)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Denver_(LPD-9)
Hence, the possibility of a HOT transfer is very limited. A cold transfer would be far more expensive as the ship would have to be brought out of mothballed status (inactive reserve). ion which case ARA may be better off buying a new ship e.g. Indonesian Makassar class.
The
Makassar class is a class of 4 Landing Platform Docks designed for the Indonesian Navy by Daesun Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. of South Korea and based on the earlier
Tanjung Dalpele class. The US$150 million contract was signed in December 2004 and the first two units were built in Busan, South Korea. The remaining two were built at Indonesia's PT PAL shipyard in Surabaya with assistance from Daesun.
Unit cost for the Makassar class is USD$37.5 million ~ USD$45 million. Philippines bought 1 unit (Tarlac class) for $46 million (without weapons and sensors).
In 2006, the Indian government purchased
Trenton for US$48.44 million. The ship was turned over to the Indian navy on 17 January 2007 and renamed INS Jalashwa.
