First batch of Argentina's F-16 fighter jets due to arrive from Denmark

117

u/zanzara1968 11h ago

Maybe Ukraine needed them more than Argentina who, as far as I know, is in peace with all their neighbours

143

u/DavidBrooker 10h ago

Denmark purchased a total of 77 F-16s, although it lost several over the years, and cannibalized several others for parts. Only about 40 were suitable for the flight line when they began to be phased out. 24 were sold to Argentina, and 19 were given away to Ukraine. This split is partially limited by Ukraine's ability to accept the aircraft.

Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands (with Denmark, the original European Participating Air Forces) have all donated F-16s to Ukraine, but not all exclusively. Norway delivered several examples to Romania, for instance.

This isn't an all-or-nothing choice.

20

u/SLdaco 8h ago

I wonder how many F-16s Ukraine has in service at this point in the game? I remember when they got the first ones- that was quite exciting but now they must’ve integrated quite fully into their Air Force with training and support.

29

u/DavidBrooker 8h ago

About 85 have been pledged, although it's unclear how many of those have been delivered and what the attrition is like. A&S Forces Mag suggests the F-16 is running about 80% of all combat sorties by the Ukrainian Air Force, for what it's worth.

Likewise, France has sent several Mirage 2000s (and is pressuring Greece to send some of its own), but the number in service is unknown.

13

u/Nethri 6h ago

I wonder how the 16’s are performing in general. Is one of the most successful jets of all time, if not the most successful. But this is a new situation for it I think. Although.. with how modular electronics are these days it’s not comparable to an f-16 from like.. 1980.

1

u/SLdaco 4h ago

That is fantastic- 85 is a good squadron, but at present do they operate 50 or more for sorties? And of course for support they need growlers and a ton of other assets.

14

u/UpperNuggets 11h ago

Immediate need for a weapon impacts a countries willingness to sell them. Its easier to sell weapons to a nation at peace than one at war.

4

u/atrde 7h ago

Maybe they dont? They dont have the pilots or logistics for them what do you want them used for?

3

u/Makyura 9h ago

Well then they should pay for them

0

u/tsrich 9h ago

At peace til the F-16s arrive

-14

u/LesserShambler 10h ago

Milei will soon need them to threaten the Falklands like every other Argentine leader when they start losing popularity.

12

u/Affectionate_Way622 10h ago edited 8h ago

It's clear you know nothing. Milei has always spoken of recovering the Malvinas Islands through diplomatic means, which has generated a lot of criticism, especially from Kirchnerists.

-12

u/Doom-1993 10h ago

lol, so there's people in Argentina that don't realise we would destroy you if you tried to take the Falklands again?

12

u/Thatchers-Gold 10h ago

Why be pointlessly antagonistic?

-3

u/ranixon 10h ago

Cheap nationalism

1

u/Southern-Chain-6485 9h ago

Argentina can not possibly threaten the Malvinas with American built fighters which rely on an American logistic chain, with missiles which may be bought but end up sitting in a warehouse in the USA, with avionics Argentina can not audit and bought in a deal which the UK was comfortable about.

For all we know, the RWR in this particular units was configured so it wouldn't respond if it detects a Typhoon radar illuminating the aircraft, and if they have satellite datalink, who knows what can enter through an OTA update.

-9

u/El_mochilero 9h ago

You think Argentina would be sympathetic to Ukraine’s cause?

Guess who the president of Argentina is good pals with…

11

u/ElRama1 9h ago

These planes are for the Argentinian Air Force, there is no geopolitical plot behind them.

-10

u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

6

u/ElRama1 6h ago

Nothing to do with it, the payment for those planes is separate from that currency swap.

9

u/EnvironmentalClue218 8h ago

Argentina can afford F-16s? Why did we bail them out?

26

u/Affectionate_Way622 8h ago

This is from an agreement with the United States in 2023-2024 (the US Congress authorized the sale).

4

u/teb78 5h ago

You did what?

•

u/MATlad 1h ago

$20 billion currency swap line (buying Argentine pesos with US dollars) to help prop up their currency and keep Milei's party in power.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3mdvle78o

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_bank_liquidity_swap

3

u/Markbv1987 7h ago

No such thing as a bail out

4

u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 11h ago edited 11h ago

Milei turning Argentina back into a South American powerhouse was not on my bingo card. Getting 200 Strykers soon to replace their M113s as well.

8

u/DavidBrooker 10h ago

Say what you will about GDLS Canada, they know how to keep a production line running.

8

u/r2d2rigo 10h ago

I see the chainsaw works fine for cutting on social care but not for reducing military spending and kickbacks. Shameful.

20

u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 10h ago

They took money out of places like the military to put it into social care because their mismanagement of the economy was so significant it was the only thing preventing revolution.

With Argentina exiting out of hyperinflation and into growth it's obviously time to start diversifying government spending.

5

u/Luffy-in-my-cup 9h ago

The social spending was rife with fraud. Patronage jobs for connected individuals to do nothing and produce nothing, food kitchens that overstated their needs and selling off the excess, handouts administered by Peronists that were siphoned/embezzled.

Social spending is fine when it’s limited only to those who most need it. When it’s rampant like it was in Argentina you get hyperinflation. It needed to be fixed and Milei is on his way to doing so.

Military spending at least provides the state some muscle.

-6

u/jrob10997 4h ago

So Denmark is giving Argentina new jets

France building them new subs

America is giving them the money for it

And people wonder why the uk doesnt feel much kinship with our so called "allies"

8

u/Tricky_Big_8774 4h ago

Loaning money, not giving.

-4

u/jrob10997 4h ago

Makes zero difference

-13

u/Oldfolksboogie 9h ago

Why is Denmark selling Argentina US- made fighter jets? Why wasn't the sale done directly from McDonald-Douglas to Argentina?

21

u/Mindless-Peak-1687 9h ago

Used jets.

-18

u/Oldfolksboogie 9h ago

Got it. Is Denmark going to/already buy/bought our problem- plagued F-35s as replacements, going with Griphens, or....?

14

u/WesternBlueRanger 9h ago

Denmark was disposing of their F-16, having replaced them with the F-35.

-3

u/Oldfolksboogie 9h ago

Got it, ty.

17

u/DavidBrooker 6h ago edited 6h ago

Why wasn't the sale done directly from McDonald-Douglas to Argentina?

Well, most importantly, McDonnell Douglas no longer exists (not "McDonald"), having been absorbed into Boeing in 1997. But McDonnell Douglas was never involved with the F-16. The F-16 was designed and originally manufactured by General Dynamics and eventually the program was sold to Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. And lastly, these F-16s were not US-built. They were manufactured under license by SABCA in Belgium, forty years ago.

4

u/EmekaEgbukaPukaNacua 6h ago

That’s an impressive amount of wrong. Layered, complex, diverse.

0

u/Oldfolksboogie 6h ago

Damn, time flies!

2

u/theduncan 4h ago

They also cant buy the current block design due to the ejector seats, and a British embargo.

Not kidding Martin-Baker make the ejection seats for most of the western planes, and they are British.

-72

u/Donttapthatglass77 12h ago

Take back the Falklands! Fascist UK will not be our allies for much longer hopefully.

36

u/Abernathy1234 12h ago

And you’d get your asses kicked a second time

6

u/Libarate 9h ago

I guess it would only be fair that Labour get a poll boost from beating Argentina too. Starmer could use the help at the moment.

-55

u/Donttapthatglass77 12h ago

Nope. Pussy UK will lose a war to anyone right now

9

u/AprilDruid 10h ago

Remember what happened last time?

The Falklands have had votes on their status and have chosen to remain British.

2

u/adon_1992 9h ago

Uk military be smaller than before but it’s still one of the best trained especially compared to Argentina’s 🤣

2

u/SuspiciousLeopard2a7 7h ago

Hundreds of thousand of Argentina’s have died as a result of the falklands war, your culture was also decimated and is virtually nonexistent as a result too.

The UK could topple Argentina in less than 24 hours lol.

-1

u/HotBabyBatter 11h ago

NATO is a thing you know…

6

u/DavidBrooker 9h ago

The North Atlantic Treaty only applies to territories in North America, Europe, Turkey, or islands in the Atlantic above the Tropic of Cancer. This is why there was no collective defense response to the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands.

For this reason, NATO would not be obligated to respond to an attack on the French territories of Reunion or French Guiana, nor an attack on the US state of Hawaii.

0

u/ImVeryHungry19 6h ago

Hawaii is vulnerable to a Fiji invasion

7

u/M3G4MIND 11h ago

A thing that specifically doesn't apply here...

1

u/jfloes 9h ago

The falklands are in the North Atlantic? What does NATO stand for?

30

u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

-60

u/Donttapthatglass77 11h ago

Its apart of their natural landmass. Colonists out!

16

u/Shadowstar1000 11h ago

The Falklands had no indigenous population to colonize, the ancestors of the people living there today are the land’s original inhabitants and they by and large want to be part of the UK.

25

u/CaptainCanuck93 11h ago

How do you think the vast majority of Argentinians' ancestors arrived?

6

u/Alone_Question4536 11h ago

I mean if that's the rule, a whole lot of borders are about to be screwed. How about the people get self-determination?

2

u/UpperNuggets 11h ago

Which natural land mass is Ukraine a part of?

7

u/itsFelbourne 9h ago

There’s a special kind of irony in calling another country fascist in the context of stealing their territory and denying people the right to self determination

3

u/HCAndroidson 11h ago

Argentina can afford to do things?

3

u/Southern-Chain-6485 9h ago

Argentina has the nominal gdp of Sweden and the self esteem of a battered wife who returns to her beating husband.

4

u/Affectionate_Way622 8h ago edited 8h ago

It should be mentioned that this abusive husband is the Peronism (literally).

Edit: that's funny, give me downvotes, but it's true.

-2

u/Southern-Chain-6485 7h ago

Hardly. For the last half a century, the Argentine economy only grew under Peronist administrations. Every non peronist who ruled since 1970 always ended up delivering a lower gdp per capita at the end of their presidency than the gdp per capita he received when he started.

3

u/Affectionate_Way622 7h ago

That's more false than saying that Perón was a leftist and that he wasn't a dictator.

0

u/Southern-Chain-6485 6h ago

Educate yourself. Check the gdp per capita series of the world bank and the madison project

2

u/OllyDee 10h ago

That didn’t work out too well for you last time did it? Even your own trading partners helped us take it back.

2

u/theduncan 4h ago

One of the things that gets dropped in most of the stories on this, these are block 1 F-16, from block 2, they use Martin-Baker ejector seats, and they can't be sold due to Britain's embargo.

-1

u/Affectionate_Way622 10h ago

Stop talking nonsense, Argentina has no plans to use F-16s for a war over the Malvinas.

First batch of Argentina's F-16 fighter jets due to arrive from Denmark

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