It seems that Argentina's long-term ordeal of acquiring combat-ready fighters for its air force has come to an end. On April 16, 2024, at the Danish Skridstrup air base, the defense ministers of Argentina and Denmark signed an intergovernmental agreement on the acquisition by Argentina of 24 Lockheed Martin F-16AM/BM fighters, previously upgraded under the MLU program, which are being decommissioned by the Danish Air Force. The purchase cost is about $300 million (DKK 2.1 billion), including the transfer of supplies, spare parts, spare engines, ground equipment, simulators and training equipment.
The Defense Ministers of Argentina and Denmark during the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on the acquisition by Argentina of 24 Lockheed Martin F-16AM/BM MLU fighters being decommissioned by the Danish Air Force at the Danish Skridstrup airbase. Participants pose against the background of the Danish Air Force F-16BM fighter (Danish tail number ET199, US Air Force number 86-0199, serial number 6G-15) built in 1988, which bears the insignia of the Argentine Air Force, 04/16/2024 (c) the Danish Ministry of Defense
According to the terms of the agreement, the first six fighters (four single-seat F-16BMS and two two-seat F-16AM) should be transferred from the Danish Air Force to Argentina in 2025, and the delivery of all aircraft should be completed in 2028. In the Argentine Air Force, F-16 aircraft are to become part of two fighter squadrons of the 6th Aviation Brigade to be restored at Tandil Air Base in Buenos Aires Province, where Dassault Mirage III/V and IAI Nesher (Finger) fighters were previously operated.
The Danish Air Force received 70 F-16 fighters (54 single-seat F-16A and 16 two-seat F-16B) of the Block 1, 5, 10 and 15 series of new licensed Belgian and Dutch production (SABCA and Fokker) from 1980 to 1991, and in 1994-1997 acquired seven more aircraft (six single-seat F-16s16A and one two-seat F-16B) Block 15 from the USAF availability. Later, 62 Danish F-16 aircraft were upgraded according to the MLU standard. Currently, the Danish Air Force has 41 fighters in service (30 single-seat F-16AM and 11 two-seat F-16BM), and 11 more (ten F-16AM and one F-16BM) are in storage. To replace the fleet of F-16 aircraft, Denmark has ordered 27 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters, deliveries of which should begin from the end of 2025 and be conducted until 2028.
In addition to selling 24 F-16AM/BM fighters to Argentina, Denmark had previously committed to transfer another 19 F-16AM/BM aircraft to Ukraine. According to recent reports, the first six Danish fighters are to be transferred to Ukraine at the end of 2024, and the rest in 2025.
Argentina was left without fighters when the entire fleet of Dassault Mirage fighters (Mirage III/V and Nesher/Finger) The Argentine Air Force was finally decommissioned in November 2015 without any replacement. After the decommissioning of all Mirage family aircraft, of the Argentine Air Force jet combat aircraft, only about 30 modernized old American A-4AR Fightinghawk attack aircraft as part of the 5th Aviation Brigade at Villa Reynolds Air Base (San Luis), which have a very low level of combat readiness and are constantly decreasing in number - now there are no more in service 15 A-4AR aircraft, of which only a few are in flight condition. The Argentine Air Force also uses jet combat training aircraft of national production IA-63 Pampa as ersatz fighters (currently 22 aircraft are nominally listed).
Over the past two decades, Argentina has made various attempts to purchase fighter jets (mainly from among those in service), going through many options of almost all types on the world market, but this was hampered by chronic Argentine economic problems, political instability, as well as opposition from the United Kingdom, which blocked the sale of aircraft to Argentina with British-made systems and nodes - First of all, this concerned ejection seats manufactured by the British company Martin-Baker, which, unfortunately for Argentina, were the de facto standard in many Western combat aircraft. The purchase of F-16s equipped with American-made ACES II ejection seats became a way out for Argentina here. But the purchase of American F-16 aircraft in Denmark itself became possible only after President Javier Millay came to power in Argentina, who achieved success in improving the Argentine budget, as well as adopted a firm pro-American orientation, which allowed the US government to approve the sale of F-16 fighters to Argentina.