An unusual and coordinated aerial activity involving aircraft from the United Kingdom , Chile , and Argentina was recorded mid-morning today in the south of the continent via www.flightradar24.com . With Punta Arenas Airport as the logistical epicenter, this displays a display that rekindles geopolitical tensions in the South Atlantic and Antarctica.

At 10:00 a.m. (Argentine time) , the Agenda Malvinas website documented the takeoff of three aircraft belonging to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) , the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. They were a De Haviland Dash 7 and two Twin Otters , which headed south. Once in open sea, the three British aircraft turned off their transponders, leaving their final destinations unknown. Whether they were heading for the British Antarctic base at Rothera or, if their route, around the south of Cape Horn, pointed directly to the Malvina Islands .

Thus, around noon, as the press's eyes focused on the skies above Punta Arenas, it became clear that the British activity was only part of a much larger deployment. Simultaneously with the takeoff of a De Haviland Dash 7 and two Twin Otters from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) , the Chilean Air Force (FACh) also mobilized its own resources. A Twin Otter and two CASA 212 aircraft from the FACh flew over the north-central part of Tierra del Fuego Island, extending their patrol towards the mainland, just beyond Torres del Paine National Park.

Journalist Gustavo Abud Arab captured the magnitude of the event by noting the movement of aircraft from three nations, highlighting the scale of Chilean logistical support to the United Kingdom. "Three British aircraft took off minutes ago for Antarctica from Punta Arenas, Chile; not only the quality of the support but also the quantity," he noted. It is important to remember that the BAS, although it has a scientific purpose ("conducting polar science"), also aims to "provide an active presence in Antarctica on behalf of the United Kingdom."

Abud Arab expanded the list, reporting that an Argentine P-3 Orion maritime reconnaissance and patrol aircraft was approaching the Argentine sector, flying north to south. At the same time, in the Argentine sector of Tierra del Fuego Island, Agenda Malvinas detected an Argentine Air Force Twin Otter operating in the area, a LADE Saab 340 covering the route between El Calafate and Ushuaia, and a BAE aircraft from Aerovias DAP operating the route from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams.

A superposition of military and logistics aircraft from three countries underscores the escalation of surveillance of the South Atlantic and Antarctica. This military air movement comes in a context of strengthening Chilean-British relations , consolidating Punta Arenas as a key logistics point for the United Kingdom.