The United States is urgently looking to seal a fighter-jet deal with Argentina, reportedly offering the South American nation second-hand F-16 fighter jets to out-compete bids from China and India.
Washington’s interest in selling fighter jets to Argentina poses a setback to China and India, both of which have also made offers to sell fighter jets to the South American nation.
Russia has also reportedly offered to sell its MiG-35 fighter aircraft to Buenos Aires.
While New Delhi has offered its 4.5 generation Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Beijing has pitched in with an offer of 15 JF-17 ‘Thunder Block’ jets, being jointly developed with Pakistan.
Taiana told the Indian channel that LCA Tejas has 16 British parts. It remains unclear if India has offered to replace these parts.
The report said that F-16 has qualified as a “more powerful aircraft”, although inducting the American-origin fighter jet would require investments in upgrading airport infrastructure.
Air Marshal M. Matheswaran, an Indian Air Force (IAF) veteran, told Sputnik that the “ruthless” American military-industrial complex has an edge over other competitors because of an already “deep penetration” as far as the global arms market was concerned.
According to
SIPRI, the US is the biggest exporter of weapons globally, with sales topping $204 billion in 2022. On the other hand, India’s weapons’ sales
hit a record of $1.93 billion in 2022-23, according to Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
The ex-IAF pilot underlined that the F-16 fighter jets were not comparable in size to either LCA Tejas or the Chinese JF-17.
Matheswaran said that Argentina was now faced with a “tricky” call to choose between the Chinese or the American fighter jets.
“Argentina has been growing close to China and India as it seeks to strengthen ties with other developing nations. It is one of the nations which has been seeking BRICS membership,” the think-tanker said.
According to American think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), China has overtaken the US in recent years to emerge as South America’s top trading partner. Argentina, like other Latin American nations, has sourced millions of dollars of worth of military equipment from Beijing, the CFR said.
The ‘China Policy Paper on the Latin America and the Caribbean’ released in 2016 said that Beijing would “enhance cooperation in military trade and military technology” with the continent.
Similarly, India's
ties with the region are on an upswing. now ranks as the fourth biggest trading partner of Argentina. The two countries elevated their ties to the level of ‘Strategic Partnership’ in 2019 and also signed an MoU in defense cooperation the same year.
However, cash-strapped Argentina is currently also negotiating a much-needed bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).