A cross-section of information emerging from Página 12 and Escenario Mundial following the publication of Agenda Malvinas last Thursday, the 20th, reveals a serious contradiction in Argentine defense policy and a worrying asymmetry in bilateral military relations with Chile. The focus of the controversy lies in the authorization of Chilean military flights over Argentine territory at a time when the Chilean Air Force (FACH) is strategically strengthening its ties with the United Kingdom, the colonial power that maintains its occupation of the Malvina Islands .

Flights through Argentine territory from Santa Cruz

The controversy gained momentum on Thursday, November 20, 2025, when Agenda Malvinas detected, through its monitoring platform Satellite imagery from Flightradar24 shows two Chilean military aircraft— an Army CASA 212 and a Chilean Air Force Twin Otter —flying over the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz. The aircraft flew a north-south route east of the Andes Mountains, remaining within Argentine continental airspace for more than two hours.

A Military Agreement Without a Foreign Ministry

In response to the alert, the newspaper Página/12 said that the Argentine Air Force (FAA) had granted permission for the flights , categorizing them as " ferry flights," justified by the search for shorter routes or better weather conditions.

However, the publication revealed an alarming aspect: there is an "unwritten rule" among the military leadership of both countries that allows them to coordinate and authorize this type of military overflight by mutual agreement, without the intervention or knowledge of the Foreign Ministries of Argentina and Chile.

This scheme of direct coordination between armed forces, which bypasses civilian diplomatic oversight, poses serious risks in a sensitive geopolitical context. The situation becomes even more delicate considering that the Chilean Ministry of Defense has reportedly stated it has no information about the authorization request, suggesting that the coordination is strictly military.

The alliance between the Chilean Air Force and the Royal Air Force

Argentina's authorization of Chilean flights takes on a contradictory strategic meaning when combined with a third piece of news, also published on November 20, 2025 by Escenario Mundial : Chile and the United Kingdom are drastically strengthening strategic cooperation between the Chilean Air Force (FACH) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) .

Recent agreements, which include visits by RAF delegations to Chilean bases and the exchange of doctrine on "Force Protection" and complex air-ground operations, point to a "long-term cooperation" with a growing focus on the aerospace field and advanced training.

Historically, the military ties between Chile and Great Britain are deep and have a direct precedent in the 1982 conflict , where Chile, through figures such as Fernando Matthei (then commander of the FACH), provided a crucial contribution to the British forces during the Malvinas War.

The crux of the controversy is clear and has military and diplomatic implications. Argentina, which maintains a sovereignty claim over the Malvina Islands, allows its neighbor's military aircraft to fly freely over its Patagonian territory— the gateway to the southern and Antarctic regions —while that same neighbor, Chile, actively strengthens its military ties with the power that maintains the colonial occupation of the islands.

The decision by the Argentine Air Force to authorize these flights, and even more so, to do so under a sui generis coordination scheme that bypasses the Foreign Ministry, should compel the Argentine Executive Branch to urgently re-evaluate the scope and nature of the overflight agreements with Chile, demanding total transparency and strict diplomatic control over every foreign state air movement in its territory.