Former Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army , Martín Balza , gave his opinion on the current situation of the Argentine Air Force after the acquisition of F-16 fighters from Denmark and raised some interesting questions .
Balza stressed that the integration of these aircraft into the Argentine force could be a long and complex process , taking into account that, for example, in Chile the development of 30 similar aircraft was achieved after a decade of work .
Another aspect that Balza 's interview with Santiago Cúneo on the program "1 + 1 = 3" brought to light was the peculiarity of the planes purchased by Argentina from the Danes: First they were donated by the US to Denmark and this country sold them to Argentina after implementing a series of technological modernizations . Other units of the same batch were donated by Denmark to Ukraine.
Balza explained that the transition from older Skyhawk and Mirage fighters to modern F-16s will require considerable time : " The Chilean Air Force took 10 years to operate the 30 F-16s it bought from the United States ," he said, suggesting that Argentina could face a similar challenge.
" It will not be a short process, and the road to full operation of this equipment will take several years ," he stressed.
The interview with the former Chief left open the question of whether this is a truly historic purchase by the Air Force (as claimed by the Argentine Government ) or a ploy by Denmark .
The F-16 fighters , produced by Lockheed Martin , have been modernized and equipped with cutting-edge technology by the Danish Government , with the administration of President Javier Milei describing this acquisition as " the most important in half a century of Argentine military history ."
On the other hand, Balza warned that the current situation of the Argentine Armed Forces is critical : " Objectively, it will take us a long time to recover our level of defense and get out of the state of defenselessness in which we find ourselves. If we do not have fighter planes, submarines, modernized tanks and our surface fleet has problems navigating, today we do not have the minimum deterrent capacity to protect our vital objectives ."
He also stressed that Argentina can seek to reequip itself , but that does not necessarily mean that it is rearming . " They are two different things ," he stressed, adding that it will take three to four presidential terms to reach a level of defense equivalent to that which existed in the late 1990s .
STRONG:
URGENT 24
