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No FA-50s For You! U.K. Diplomats Swat Down Argentine Fighter Plan
David AxeContributor
Aerospace & Defense
A South Korean FA-50.
Key point: The FA-50 is a superb plane and Argentina really needs new fighters.
The Argentine air force has selected South Korea’s FA-50 as its next fighter, Jane’s reported on July 21, 2019.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The United Kingdom just wiped out a large portion of Argentina’s future air force—all without firing a shot.
For years, the Argentine air arm has been trying to acquire new or lightly-used fighters to begin rebuilding squadrons that have been in decline since, well, the 1982 Falklands War.
But budgetary problems, bureaucratic infighting and, more recently, U.K. diplomatic maneuvering have combined to deprive Buenos Aires’ air force of new planes.
In the summer of 2019, Argentina selected South Korea’s single-engine FA-50 as its next fighter. Air force officials reportedly hoped to buy 10 FA-50s. The 12-ton fighter retails for around $30 million per copy, tens of millions of dollars less than what a new F-16 or similar, heavier fighter costs.
The decision was good news for a once-proud air arm. In 1982, U.K. forces over and around the Falklands shot down around a third of Argentina’s 400 warplanes. In subsequent decades, funding woes and mismanagement exacted an even greater toll.
By late 2015 the Argentine air force and navy together could muster fewer than 250 warplanes, including a few Vietnam War-vintage, subsonic A-4s and equally aged, but supersonic, French-made Mirages. Even the planes that could fly lacked modern systems.
The Mirages left service in mid-2015. To rebuild its supersonic fighter capability, Buenos Aires considered buying new Gripens from Brazil, old American F-16s, second-hand Mirage F.1s from Spain and new FC-1s from China before finally settling on 14 used Israeli Kfir Block 60s, priced to move at $350 million for the lot, including several years of maintenance.
Not everyone was happy, especially Brig. Mario Roca, who in late 2015 was the air force’s number-three officer. Roca pointed out that only six of the Kfirs would have radars.
In any event, the United States refused to grant an export license for the Kfir’s American-made engines. Suddenly Argentina was left with no supersonic fighters.
Today just a handful of weapons-capable warplanes remain in Argentine air force service, including six A-4s—one of the attack planes crashed in August—plus a couple dozen each AI-63 and AT-6 armed trainers. All these types are subsonic.
An Argentine navy Super Etendard in 1990.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The FA-50s would have helped the air force to begin rearming. But the U.K. government intervened.
Korea Aerospace Industries executive Martin Chun delivered the bad news in an Oct. 28 letter to the Argentine ambassador to South Korea. “The export of six major components produced by U.K. suppliers for FA-50 is subject to approval of U.K. government.”
The United Kingdom placed an arms embargo on Argentine following the ‘82 war. That embargo remains in effect. “It is our regret to inform you that the U.K. export license issue is not resolved to date,” Chun wrote.
And with that, the FA-50—just like the Gripen, F-16, Mirage F.1 and FC-1—is off the table for Argentina. It’s unclear where Buenos Aires might look next for its fighter needs, which grow more dire by the year.
The Argentine navy has had only slightly better luck modernizing its own squadrons. In May 2019, five ex-French navy Super Etendard fighters arrived at the port of Bahia Blanca in Argentina.
They should eventually join the 10 or so surviving Super Etendards from a batch of 14 that the Argentine navy acquired around the time of the Falklands War.
Get the best of Forbes to your inbox with the latest insights from experts across the globe.
David AxeContributor
Aerospace & Defense
A South Korean FA-50.
Key point: The FA-50 is a superb plane and Argentina really needs new fighters.
The Argentine air force has selected South Korea’s FA-50 as its next fighter, Jane’s reported on July 21, 2019.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The United Kingdom just wiped out a large portion of Argentina’s future air force—all without firing a shot.
For years, the Argentine air arm has been trying to acquire new or lightly-used fighters to begin rebuilding squadrons that have been in decline since, well, the 1982 Falklands War.
But budgetary problems, bureaucratic infighting and, more recently, U.K. diplomatic maneuvering have combined to deprive Buenos Aires’ air force of new planes.
In the summer of 2019, Argentina selected South Korea’s single-engine FA-50 as its next fighter. Air force officials reportedly hoped to buy 10 FA-50s. The 12-ton fighter retails for around $30 million per copy, tens of millions of dollars less than what a new F-16 or similar, heavier fighter costs.
The decision was good news for a once-proud air arm. In 1982, U.K. forces over and around the Falklands shot down around a third of Argentina’s 400 warplanes. In subsequent decades, funding woes and mismanagement exacted an even greater toll.
By late 2015 the Argentine air force and navy together could muster fewer than 250 warplanes, including a few Vietnam War-vintage, subsonic A-4s and equally aged, but supersonic, French-made Mirages. Even the planes that could fly lacked modern systems.
The Mirages left service in mid-2015. To rebuild its supersonic fighter capability, Buenos Aires considered buying new Gripens from Brazil, old American F-16s, second-hand Mirage F.1s from Spain and new FC-1s from China before finally settling on 14 used Israeli Kfir Block 60s, priced to move at $350 million for the lot, including several years of maintenance.
Not everyone was happy, especially Brig. Mario Roca, who in late 2015 was the air force’s number-three officer. Roca pointed out that only six of the Kfirs would have radars.
In any event, the United States refused to grant an export license for the Kfir’s American-made engines. Suddenly Argentina was left with no supersonic fighters.
Today just a handful of weapons-capable warplanes remain in Argentine air force service, including six A-4s—one of the attack planes crashed in August—plus a couple dozen each AI-63 and AT-6 armed trainers. All these types are subsonic.
An Argentine navy Super Etendard in 1990.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The FA-50s would have helped the air force to begin rearming. But the U.K. government intervened.
Korea Aerospace Industries executive Martin Chun delivered the bad news in an Oct. 28 letter to the Argentine ambassador to South Korea. “The export of six major components produced by U.K. suppliers for FA-50 is subject to approval of U.K. government.”
The United Kingdom placed an arms embargo on Argentine following the ‘82 war. That embargo remains in effect. “It is our regret to inform you that the U.K. export license issue is not resolved to date,” Chun wrote.
And with that, the FA-50—just like the Gripen, F-16, Mirage F.1 and FC-1—is off the table for Argentina. It’s unclear where Buenos Aires might look next for its fighter needs, which grow more dire by the year.
The Argentine navy has had only slightly better luck modernizing its own squadrons. In May 2019, five ex-French navy Super Etendard fighters arrived at the port of Bahia Blanca in Argentina.
They should eventually join the 10 or so surviving Super Etendards from a batch of 14 that the Argentine navy acquired around the time of the Falklands War.
Get the best of Forbes to your inbox with the latest insights from experts across the globe.
