US clears Argentina to receive 24 Danish F-16’s
 

Details on link below

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/amer...-to-argentina/

Good news that the US Gov't gave the green light.

Old news from 2 months ago - let’s see who gets them ARG or UKR….

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-w...154540.article

Not old news - "to approve" has now become "has approved". Zelensky has previously said Ukraine would receive 19 jets from Denmark, so it's not 'either for Argentina or Ukraine" as there are enough to satisfy both prospective orders.

That said, not sure why it's good news, Lonewolf. Would suggest all of Denmark's jets are perhaps needed more urgently for Ukraine.

Unless I am mistaken, which is possible, the RDAF has enough F-16s to do both if it retires its whole active fleet,as numbers quoted often omit the BMs. There are also potentially some others of the nearly 80 it acquired in long term storage, some since c.2011 so may have been disposed or, canabilized,

I understand the aircraft are AM/BM Block 20 MLU with AIM-9 and AIM-120 so a BVR capability.

(cross posting with Melmothtw)

To me it is good news for at least two reasons.
(1) I am an American, and I would like to see US/Argentine relationships and mil-to-mil contacts improve.
I'll hazard a guess that some formal mission/liaison among the USAF will be made available. (And logistic support, yadda yadda).
(2) It's a step that may prevent a Chinese option from being selected.

I'd agree it's good news to the extent that it keeps China out of LatAm (for now). My issue with Argentina getting the F-16 isn't really about Argentina (or the Falklands, for that matter), but I think the West's energies should be totally focused on supporting Ukraine. The F-16 has been selected as the (initial) platform to equip them, and we have no idea how many they will need before this war is over.

Personally, if I was the UK government I wouldn't have vetoed the FA-50s Argentina wanted, and then we wouldn't now be in the position of diverting precious F-16s.

Yeah. The Europeans (the West) sure need to up their game in Ukraine.
The US has been dealing in Global Security for about 70 years. Still is. You are mistaken to think that it's an either / or issue. It can be both. There are more problems to deal with than Ukraine. True. They don't have infinite trained aircrews either. Time, and time to train, is a factor in all of this.
I expect that there will be a few more F-16's coming available in the next couple of years, but I am hoping that the war ends sooner than that.

A singular focus when there’s a world that demands attention isn’t realistic.

US State Department:

We welcome President Milei's statement earlier this week that Argentina 🇦🇷 will purchase second-hand 🇺🇸US-built F-16 fighter jets from Denmark 🇩🇰 that offers @FuerzaAerea_Arg a low cost high performance multirole aircraft.

SA_Defensa:

​​​​​​​Argentina now has a generally confirmed price for the F-16A/B MLU deal, for a total of $650 million USD.

The deal is composed of the 24x F-16A/B MLU fighters for $338 million, as well as an arms package of $312 million including AIM-9 Sidewinders & AIM-120 AMRAAMs.

Good news. Vipers continue to be a good value buy.

Quite how Argentina intends to pay for it all is another matter.

Let's hope they pay in full before they send them East to get shot down..

Why would they be shot down?

Lets hope they don't invade the Falklands with them.

Given that inflation in Argentina was 254.20% in January and climbed to 276.20% in February; an optimistic forecast from Focus Economics is for an average 180% in the current year, it’s purchase of the Vipers will go down a storm with the Argentinian populace. 3 years ago the Argentine MoD requested US $664m for the purchase, I have no idea what the price is now or where they will find the money. IMF loan perhaps?

If the supply of AIM-9s, AIM-120s, and rumoured JDAMs are to be supplied from the US by an FMS can the 'The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.' test be met? The UK authorities are rumoured to prefer Argentina to be supplied with US rather than Israeli (or Chinese) weapons.

Respectfully disagree (ish). These should have been earmarked for Ukraine. I get all the other points about keeping China out of LatAm, etc, but Ukraine should be the West's number one priority in all matters right now.

Aren’t F16s/crews being prepared to go to Ukraine?

Both objectives can be accomplished. The West’s attention shouldn’t be so focused on Ukraine that other areas go unattended.

No one knows how long the Ukraine war will last or how many F-16s they're going to need. Don't know what harm it would have done the UK to clear the sale to Argentina of T-50s from South Korea, and then this wouldn't be an issue.