Argentina is really in a pickle these days… Both the Kirchener Governments have done the utmost to discredit and undercut funds for the military forces. If theuey instead opted to turn up the heat in the South Atlantic, I don’t mean starting a new war or anything of the sorts but by puttin some 40-odd new gen Su-35 Flankes in the South of the country the British MoD might feel pressed to significantly upgrade the islands air cover preventively which would end up costing the Treasury a sh%tload of money that would certainly be missed elsewhere in the British economy… 40 new Eurofighters (IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FROZEN SOUTH ATLANTIC, with zero logistics support from neighbouring South American ports and airports ) Ought to cost significantly more than the same number long range Flankers flying from ample and confortable land bases in Southern Argentina… In the regular long run costs for protecting the “rights” of the less then 3000 Kelpers on the islands… The Argentinians’ game is for the long haul, the longer they sustain their claim the less it makes economic sense to the UK government….

JF-17s to them would only make some sort of sense if the government gives up using military pressure to recover the Falkland islands and if they become exclusively concerned with very, very, low acquisitions costs to replenish the FAA’s Fighter Fleet.

Regards,

Hammer

P.S.: There is an ongoing effort to establish a Chinese Z-11 (AS350 clone) helicopter manufacturing site in Argentina, let’s see how well this develops before thinking about new Chinese fast jets for them. 😉

If the threat of 40 odd SU-30/35 was to come about you might see the typhoon’s upgraded to 12-14 with a much higher upgraded in ground to air missiles and if needed more type 45’s in region

the Mirage F1 or 2000s are extremely expensive to maint
ain and neither is remotely in production. That is enough reasons not to go for them, let alone the fact that France failed them in the Falkland war when they shared info with Britain to help defeat Argentina.

What Argentina needs are the JF-17s. Those could potentially carry quite a few of the weapons they have in stockpile as well as a number of south american equipment. There is little to no other options right now for seriously non-aligned nations such as Argentina.

The whole white boys club mentality is getting old and has to go.

Please look back through this thread from the start and you will see that myself and a number of long standing member have said that JF-17 would be a good type for Argentina how ever they wan’t western kit and at this time that means second hand updated F-16 Mirage F-1 or 2000

As for being let down by the French first and for most they let them self down with poor planning its one thing to take an almost undefended Inland it is an other to keep it

Once on the inland they needed to sort the runway at port Stanley to take the three main types in use at the time this alone would have meant that the carrier group would have had a higher threat to deal with and they had the time to sort it out also if you are picking the time to start a war you make sure you have your sh:t together and make sure you have every thing you need and above all they failed to get an carrier early or take out the Sea Harriers

the deal for 12 single seat and one two seat Jordanian Mirage F-1 was for around $100 million given the cost of MF2000 this would be a cost of around $300 million and would be a step to far if they are changing the radar to go AESA

Let’s also not forget Ecuador already operated Kfir C10 so the 12 Cheetah‘s was just adding to a type in services . I believe there where only 38 Cheetah C10 in South Africa so if Ecuador had the best of the airframes and say 5 where put through parts recovery that leaves 20 airframes with a question mark over there services life and spears.

If Argentina could put a deal together for 16 single seat and 4 two seat F-1 MF2000 for say $500 million it would give them a highly capable multi role type that if used right could see them up to 2030 at a push also the ability to turn up on region exercises with some real capability and heads held high as they would have a platform that was as good as most in the region

Agreed the biggest issue with Rafale is the price as for the US they blow hot and cold almost daily over Argentina so can Argentina take a chance with spears for F-18E at least they have a chance of getting F-16 spears some where other an the US

I don’t see Argentina buying Chinese fighters unless there’s a major political shift. If so, I’d expect it to try for something better than JF-17. JF-17 is the low in an F-16/JF-17 mix for Pakistan. Argentina has a higher opinion of itself & its needs.

If anyone buys the UAEs Mirage 2000-9s, I expect they’d only do major upgrades to the newer ones. 40 would include some of the 1980s models. Of the 62 (before any losses) M2K-9, 32 were new-built, & 30 were upgrades of the 1980s Mirage 2000ADs.

I would agree as far as Argentina goes but it is a question of money do they have it or not for a type like Gripen and would the UK let them have it if they could the same goes for F-16 to a lesser extend

as for the M2K I was going to say 30 but up it to 40 when trying to make it work for the 2-20-20-20- plan of striping 2 for spears 20 straight in with no more than a paint job the first 20 AESA jets going on line round 2022 and the best 20 AESA jets going on line in 2027 with the 20 none ASEA starting parts recovery at 2 jets a year from 2022 and planning to 30 fly jets up to 2040 🙂

also when we say 80’s I think it was 88 but I am not sure

this 60 jet plan may work if you got the jets from France