SANTIAGO, Chile — Argentina has kicked-started the method for procuring 4 Boeing-made CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters from the U.S., army sources in Buenos Aires have instructed Protection News.
Aimed toward fulfilling a requirement first issued in 2011, the helicopters are supposed for Army and Air Power operations, each in tactical transport and particular forces help roles, in addition to catastrophe reduction and civil help.
The choice first got here to gentle in Decision No. 75 of the Argentine army’s joint employees, dated June 10, which stated the federal government had approved the acquisition course of start by requesting the plane by the Pentagon’s Overseas Navy Gross sales program.
In keeping with the army sources, talking on the situation of anonymity for safety causes, the federal government had studied the Russian-built Mil Mi-26 however determined towards shopping for the plane primarily over its measurement and maneuver capabilities.
The Argentine Air Power had operated three CH-47s between 1980 and 2000. The Army additionally acquired two CH-47s in 1980, each of which deployed to the Falkland Islands in 1982, the place one was destroyed and the opposite one captured by British forces.
The plan to accumulate 4 CH-47s is a component of a bigger authorities effort to revive the nation’s protection capabilities through the use of a particular fund created in 2020. Often known as FONDEF — or Nationwide Fund for Protection, in English — the mechanism units aside $400 million yearly for army tools.
Talking in entrance to Argentina’s Senate on June 9 — the day earlier than the joint employees decision was signed — Protection Minister Jorge Taiana underlined the essential of FONDEF for bolstering army capabilities.
Taiana stated FONDEF investments are deliberate for the quick and medium time period to accumulate new fighter jets, submarines, cyber protection expertise, missiles, rockets, radars and drones, amongst different materiel, per the Directive of Nationwide Coverage for Protection, signed in 2021 by Argentine President Alberto Fernández.
The directive is supposed to extend Argentina’s army capacities for “defensive, deterrent [and] cooperative … functions,” Taiana stated.
The acquisition of a primary batch of fighter jets is likely one of the greater priorities, with the Argentine Air Power evaluating the FC-1/JF-17 Thunder, which is collectively developed and produced by China’s Chengdu Aerospace Corp. and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complicated.
The service can also be contemplating secondhand, refurbished Lockheed Martin F-16s, with worth and financing choices thought-about key elements in making a call, the army sources stated.
