Argentina is moving forward with the purchase of 24 F-16 fighter jets from Denmark

(CNN Spanish) — The Argentine government signed a letter of intent for the purchase of 24 F-16 fighter aircraft from Denmark. The Ministry of Defense confirmed this Tuesday that Minister Louis Petrie and his Danish counterpart, Trolls Lund Poulsen, signed a document to proceed with the acquisition in Buenos Aires.

“We are equipping our forces and restoring the country’s supersonic capability,” Communicated the defense portfolio in X.

The Danish Defense Minister also shared the news after the meeting. “I had a very productive meeting with my colleague from Argentina, who expressed great satisfaction at being a member of the F-16 family of nations around the world,” Paulson said in a statement.

Poulsen added that in addition to the 24 fighters to be sold to Argentina, Denmark will donate another 19 F-16s from its fleet to Ukraine.

In the same sense, the United States government – which assisted in the negotiations between Buenos Aires and Copenhagen and previously approved the sale of these planes – is celebrated A statement by its embassy in Argentina and the State Department’s social networks: “The United States welcomes Argentina to the F-16 family of nations.”

The Danish government is in the process of replacing its fleet of F-16s with the new F-35, a more advanced aircraft with greater combat capabilities. Both are manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin.

What is the F-16 aircraft like?

It is a very versatile aircraft, capable of reaching speeds of 2,400 km/h, twice the speed of sound, and which the US Air Force qualifies as a “high-performance and relatively inexpensive weapon system”.

Argentina has had no supersonic fighter aircraft in service since the retirement of its Mirage III fighters in 2015, which have not been replaced to date.

The F-16 that Buenos Aires wants to buy is a multi-purpose supersonic aircraft with a single jet engine. This suggests that it can be used in a variety of missions, whether air-to-air or ground attack.

Flight Global’s World Air Force Directory claims that the F-16 is the most active fighter aircraft in the world, with about 2,200 of them currently in the air.

Experts told CNN that this large number of units ensures the availability of spare parts to maintain its combat capability.

A March 2023 US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report warns that “training of maintenance personnel can take months or years, depending on the level of competency desired.” The planes require 16 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight time, the same report details.

In terms of pilot training, the biggest complication is not learning to fly, but acquiring combat capabilities. According to experts this process can take years.

The F-16 was designed in the 1970s and has been in operational service since 1978. Denmark received its first examples in the 1980s, and gradually expanded its fleet.

According to the Danish Air Force, the aircraft currently sought by Argentina have been “constantly” updated and are “largely in line with the latest version of the F-16 aircraft in terms of equipment and weapon systems.” He adds that they are equipped with a 20-millimeter cannon and stations to carry bombs, rockets and missiles.

With information from German Peddinger.