According to the magazine "Jane's Defence Weekly" article Santiago Rivas "Argentina officially suspends fighter replacement program", Argentine Defense Minister Julio Martinez February 1, 2017 announced that after discussions with the Argentine president Mauricio Macri, the Government decided to suspend the acquisition program of new fighters for replacement of old American attack aircraft Lockheed Martin (McDonnell Douglas) A-4AR Fightinghawk.
Argentine Air Force plans to retire all the A-4AR Fightinghawk until 2018 due to lack of spare parts and production resource. Previously, the entire fleet of Dassault Mirage Argentine Air Force fighter aircraft was decommissioned in November 2015 without any replacement.
The decision on refusal for the purchase of new fighter jets made in connection with the Argentine economic problems and, according to Martinez, it was decided that it will not undertake any new aircraft purchases in the short term, at least, as long as the country's financial situation does not improve.
Argentine Air Force has long been trying to acquire at least some fighters instead of write. If in respect of retired fighters Mirage failed, the Argentine Air Force leadership hoped to replace at least A-4aR as a temporary measure 12 light fighter / trainer aircraft - potentially such as Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50 or Leonardo M- 346FT.
Martinez said that now the Air Force Argentina will seek to focus on the purchase of about ten turboprops to control northern border against illegal flights, enhance aircraft fleet IA-58 Pucará and the partial replacement of the Embraer EMB-312 Tucano as advanced training aircraft. Proposals were received regarding the possibility of deliveries of aircraft Beechcraft T-6C + Texan II and Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, but the status of the negotiations is uncertain.
The current decision to the Government of Argentina is that Argentina will have no fighter jets after the write-off of aircraft A-4AR, resulting in the Argentine Air Force will not be able to fulfill one of its main tasks to control Argentine airspace.
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