The USA begins the sale of F-16s to Argentina to displace the Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 fighter
The US has authorized the sale of 24 used F 16 fighters from Denmark to Argentina. The green light comes as China offered the JF-17 fighter jointly developed with Pakistan in a tender launched to fill the capability gap left by the retirement of its 16 Dassault Mirage III fighter planes in 2015.
Chinese offer
Beijing's offer is financially more attractive and comes with fewer "restrictions", according to La Nacion. China has reportedly offered a batch of 15 aircraft to Argentina with the possibility of two more batches.
The Sino-Pakistani plane is more modern than the Lockheed Martin platform that first flew in the 1970s. Furthermore, the JF-17 offered to Argentina uses Chinese engines, unlike the variants operated by Myanmar and Nigeria which use Russian engines. The problem is that Chinese engines are an absolute novelty, unlike the Russian ones which are already well tested.
“They are new planes and China offers a very complete package of weapons and sensors with few restrictions,” La Nacion wrote, citing military sources.
But so far the JF-17 has not given much proof of itself: three fighters were sold to Nigeria while Myanmar rejected them because they were "Unfit for service".
Package estimated at $700 million
F 16
In comparison, the Danish offering includes air-to-air missiles such as AMRAAM and Sidewinder, as well as maintenance, spare parts and training. The United States is also preparing a $40 million package to facilitate the sale, which is estimated to reach $700 million.
The F 16 fighter is obviously older, but for this reason it has proven reliability in numerous conflicts.
Additionally, the sale of four Norwegian P-3 anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft for the Argentine Navy was also approved, according to Pucara Defensa.
Interoperability
“We have officially notified the Danish government of the US approval of the transfer and will now work directly with the Argentine government to finalize it,” Mira Resnick, deputy assistant secretary for Regional Security at the State Department, was quoted as saying by the Argentine Agency Clarin.
Resnick visited Argentina in July to discuss the deal, which reportedly became a strategic move to counter Chinese influence in the region.
According to US representatives, the operationally proven American platform offers interoperability with aircraft from neighboring countries such as Chile, Brazil and possibly Colombia.
“Interoperability and the close relationship with the United States will contribute more to the modernization of the Armed Forces that Argentina pursues,” Clarin said, citing a military expert.
Less hunting for Ukraine
The fact that these fighters are sold to Argentina, however, reduces the number of fighters that can potentially be sold to Ukraine. Denmark was one of the states that had committed to arming Kiev's air force with F 16s and are now training its pilots to use the fighter.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article The US starts the sale of F-16s to Argentina to displace the Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 fighter comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/gli-usa-danno-il-via-alla-vendita-di-f-16-allargentina-per-spiazzare-il-caccia-cino-pachistano-jf-17/ on Sun, 15 Oct 2023 05:30:58 +0000.