Argentina after Israeli fighter planes; concern in London and Brasilia, says defense expert
Argentina is considering the purchase from Israel of 18 multipurpose combat aircraft Kfir Block 60 after negotiations with Spain for 16 Mirage F1 fighter bombers fell through, according to a report from Buenos Aires daily Clarin.
via Mercopress
Apparently Israel's offer has been on the Defense minister Agustin Rossi's desk since some time but only resurfaced sometime back in September following on the frustrated deal with Spain.
Clarin also mentions that news of the negotiations between the Argentine ministry of defense and Israel's Aero-spatial Industry, IAI, which manufactures the Kfir Block 60, caused 'concern' in the British government since it is suspected that Argentina could use the aircraft to intimidate the oil companies operating in Malvinas Islands waters, which are disputed by Argentina.
If the deal effectively is agreed, the first six aircraft would be arriving in Argentina with the 'latest avionics' and 'zero hour' , while the remaining 12 would be assembled in Argentina “in a plant set up and run by Israeli engineers”. “Although the aircraft were designed over forty years ago, the refurbished model comes with a reconditioned US J-79 General Electric made engine, an electronic sweeping radar EL/M-2032 from Elta Systems, an affiliate of IAI”, according to a report in the site Defensa.com.
Kfir (lion cub in Israeli), has been proven successfully in battle and other air forces have them, such as Ecuador, Colombia and Sri Lanka.
Negotiations which allegedly took off last September involve 500 million dollars with the first delivery a year after the deal is signed.
Although the operation is more than double the Spanish offer of 217 million dollars, “the superior equipment and operational conditions of the Israel fighters is indisputable”.
Brazilian journalist Roberto Lopes, who specializes in defense issues was the first to reveal that Israel/Argentina deal negotiations caused concern in the government of PM David Cameron and allegedly representatives from the UK Defense ministry asked their Israel counterparts “for a detailed description of the electronic systems and avionics” of the 18 Kfir.
Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring: Interesting to note is that not the neighboring countries but the UK out of all, are concerned about Argentine's intention of purchasing fighter jets. It seems this is pure political intend, for a sovereign western country is entitled to upgrade its armed forces and does not need to wait for approval from the UK! Pure British arrogance to ask Israel for detailed descriptions of the electronic systems and avionics. On the other hand the entire issue is of no real concern, giving the somewhat frosty relations between the UK and Israel, thus it seems hardly likely Israel would comply with such request anyway.
It was Lopes who said that London fears the aircraft could be used to track and intimidate vessels involved in the Malvinas oil and gas industry development.
Oil was first discovered in the Malvinas in 2010, and all is set for extraction to begin sometime beginning 2017/18.
British, US and European oil and support companies are involved in the Malvinas.
Nevertheless Argentina has reacted strongly and tightened controls of vessels and aircraft in the South Atlantic and has threatened companies involved in the Malvinas with legal demands.
Argentina has already sent letters to stock exchanges where these companies are traded and passed legislation which includes heavy fines and prison for oil companies CEOs which are involved in 'illegal' operations in the Argentine Sea.
Lopes also reveals that ”the issue is being monitored since the end of 2013 by Brazil's Itamaraty (foreign ministry) and defense ministry”. Since a couple of years the government of President Cristina Fernandez has been trying to boost the Argentine Air Force that in the last decade has seen its operational number of aircraft contract significantly because of lack of spares, maintenance and obsolescence.
Hi Roy,
ReplyDeleteI'd be surprised if Israel accepted to sell such planes to Argentina.
A couple of informal bulletin boards that I visit from time to time concerning Argentine aviation doesn't mention this issue
www.aviacionargentina.net
www.machtres.com (in fact, Mach Tres describes the kfir here: http://machtres.com/kfir.html)
One of the main geopolitical games played with Argentina in the 90s was the 1992 and 1994 bombings agains Jewish targets (Israel Embassy bombing and local Jewish community AMIA bombing). Both served too well for Israel, which achieved two key goals:
- Accuse Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad and create a deep divide between Argentina and Iran, preventing that two mid-size countries with a strong potential of nuclear advancement to collaborate together, and to prevent collaboration on rocket and missel technology as well (Condor in Argentina and Shahab in Iran). Trade between Iran and Argentina plummeted since 1994 and it's just regaining strength recently.
- Promote a paranoic feeling among part of the most important Latin American Jewish community in order to emigrate to Israel (after 1994, every single Jewish community building, be a school or a temple, is under close surveillance, creating a sense of permanent insecurity among the community)
Latest developments in a join Iranian-Argentinian agreement to advance in the questioning and indictment of accused Iranian officers for the AMIA bombing raised a strong condamnation from Israel. Also, Jewish communities (local and foreign) condamned every single alternative investigation lead that departs from the Iranian responsibility, by supporting DA Nisman who is too much obsessed on the Iranian trail.
These and several other developments make me wonder if Mossad was actually behind both bombings. The upside from both tragedies more than compensated the losses for them.
I guess that the Argentine Ministry of Defense knows pretty well that Israel played a game to isolate Argentina from other World players, which makes Israel an unreliable military supplier. If the Argentine military learned something from the 1982 war was that it cannot count on European military suppliers when waging a war against a Western country. Israel falls under that category, after all.
It may be possible, though, that Israel is selling a medium-scale jet since Argentina and Brazil were already making plans to develop one from the Pampa and Tucano blueprints and would sooner or later come with an own replacement (2020? 2025?).
Concerning the South Atlantic oil reserves, it doesn't seem that exploitation be feasible. UK is unsuccessfully searching for regional partners, mainly because the Vaca Muerta shale gas deposits are too good to be left aside by big oil companies as a price to exploit the Malvinas basin. This particular game is played in the economics field, in which UK doesn't have the upper hand. That's why they always try to get this dispute into the military realm even without any serious Argentine threat.
Too bad the Spaniard didn't sell their used Mirage. That may have been a good patch while the country develops their own domestic aviation might. No, I'm not drunk: The Argentine shipyards are already building their first nuclear submarine, expected to be in service by 2023:
http://interdefensa.argentinaforo.net/t177p210-submarino-nuclear-argentino-es-posible
http://espanol.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111014211222AAKWeuB
http://www.taringa.net/posts/info/15445906/Proyecto-Submarino-Nuclear-Argentino.html
If such a feat is possible, why not an advanced fighter jet given that a country already produces training planes and turbines in Cordoba? Maybe not as good as the Eurofighter Typhoon but enough to have control of the South Atlantic skies in the vicinity of Patagonia.
Thanks,
Andres