Central/South American Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
The Germans have been VERY successful in marketing the Type 209 internationally...extremely successful.

Yep but much of 1970's need to be retired and replaced by Scorpene ofc :=) ;)
Only Brazil get a modern Fleet in fact.
 

Miragedriver

Brigadier
Basic training for the Argentine 6th Mountain Brigade.

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Photo, Argentine Army
 

Miragedriver

Brigadier
EMB-314 Super Tucano Colombian operating alongside A-10 Thunderbolts II at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The deployment is for the year 2016 Green Flag East.

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Images: USAF - Senior Airman Mozer O. Da Cunha
 

SouthernSky

Junior Member
China finds a market in Latin America.

In recent years China has asserted itself as a key player in the global arms trade. Not only have both export volume and weapons quality increased rapidly, the range of customers China has been supplying has also expanded greatly over the course of the past decade. Latin America is one of the key regions into which Chinese arms have begun to pour. Yet while commentators of the past have doubted the strategic significance of China’s arms sales to this region — pointing to their relatively meager quantity and the fact that most Latin American states still rely on more established suppliers for their most important military hardware (see
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, for instance) — there are signs that things may be changing.

With next to no arms sales to the region before 2005, China is now a key supplier to Latin America. Venezuela continues to lead in China’s Latin American arms sales, with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimating that between 2011 and 2015 Venezuela purchased $373 million of Chinese weaponry. A $500 million deal in 2012 for weaponry including armored personnel carriers and self-propelled artillery ensures that this arms relationship is set to continue flourishing into the future.

Yet China has also made significant inroads into many other countries in the region. The socialist-leaning “ALBA” states (Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América, or “Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America”) have shown a particular interest in Chinese military hardware. Bolivia, for example, has secured deals worth $58 million and $108-113 million in 2009 and 2012, respectively, for China’s Karakorum trainer jets and Panther helicopters. Non-ALBA states, too, have been increasingly interested in procuring Chinese armaments in recent years. Interestingly, in 2009, Peru — a key economic partner for the United States in the region and supporter of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership — purchased 15 of China’s FN-6 portable surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) in a $1.1 million deal, along with ten more of its SAMs. Then, in 2013, it bought 27 multiple rocket launchers in a $39 million deal.

While the upward trend in sales to the region may suggest a growing trust in Chinese military hardware in the region, sales outside of the well-established Venezuelan arms sales relationship have still been made up of mostly small deals for secondary equipment, such as radars and trainer jets. Yet a crucial juncture came early last year, when then-President of Argentina Christina Fernández de Kirchner announced that her government
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during her visit to China in February 2015. The equipment the Kirchner administration intended to buy included 110 armored personnel carriers, five Malvinas-class ocean patrol vessels, and 14 JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighters — a stark change in the volume and quality of equipment normally sought by China’s Latin American buyers. However, with Kirchner’s defeat in the November 2015 election to Mauricio Macri and the likelihood that
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from his predecessor’s geopolitical alignment with Russia, China, and the ALBA alliance, the status of these and other potential orders is currently unknown and perhaps now unlikely to go through.

While these sales to Argentina may not come into fruition, they may nevertheless signal a turning point. There is little doubt that
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in a couple of key military production areas — an indigenously-produced turbo fan engine for its fighter jets constituting a notable persisting failure. Yet this Argentinian interest in China’s premium military equipment suggests that Chinese equipment is nonetheless reaching a level of sufficient quality to draw bigger and more lucrative Latin American deals in the future. Further, with their low prices and the fact that arms deals with Chinese defense companies notoriously come with very few strings attached (unlike their American counterparts), purchasing arms from China could prove an increasingly enticing prospect for countries in the region.

Why China’s defense companies are so vehemently seeking to expand into this region is not readily apparent. Of course, the prestige of being a “top tier” arms supplier aids China’s long-term goal of securing great power status. The goal of boosting sales revenue certainly play a part, too. Yet with Latin America making up only around 6 percent of the total global arms transfers from 2011-2015, it is unlikely that sales revenue is the central motivating factor, here. Instead, the attainment of strategic economic goals and building Chinese influence through “soft power” image-building are more likely the key motivating factors behind these sales.

Looking at China’s arms sales relationship with sub-Saharan Africa, a number of striking similarities are evident. Like Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa is a relatively new market for Chinese arms; both regions, until recently, have historically played a relatively minor role in Chinese foreign policy considerations due to their geographical remoteness to China. Also, at under 8 percent of total global arms sales, sales revenue from sub-Saharan African nations is inevitably limited, too. Nevertheless, these factors have not stopped Chinese defense companies from embarking on a mammoth campaign of scattering its weaponry across sub-Saharan Africa in recent years.

Indeed, SIPRI estimates that Chinese sales in the region from 2011-2015 made up 22 percent of the total arms sales to the region during that period. Further, the Aviation Corporation of China (AVIC), one of China’s largest state-owned defense enterprises,
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that at least 80 percent of the trainer aircraft fleet operated by African air forces now are Chinese-made. And while the vast majority of these sales have been for less sophisticated equipment (such as its armored personnel carriers and trainer aircraft), these sales have nevertheless helped China secure a key strategic goal in the region of developing and diversifying its energy imports from many resource-rich nations in the region. These sales have also helped China’s successful attainment of another strategic goal of building influence in the region through “soft power” image-building (a poll in 2014 showed that China’s favorability among sub-Saharan nations is higher than in any other region in the world, with
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).

Accordingly, in light of China’s strategic interests in Latin America of
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, a similar arms sales strategy seems to be in operation in Latin America. However, with Latin American states generally having larger defense budgets than those in sub-Saharan Africa, China’s defense companies will have to sell more than simply trainer jets and armored personnel carriers if Beijing is to build a similar level of influence over its Latin American partners.

If Chinese defense companies are able to convince more Latin American leaders like Kirchner that even their most advanced export hardware is of a sufficient quality, their low prices and unobtrusive arms deal conditions may help them pry a number of key deals out of the grasp of the United States, Russia, and other key suppliers in the region, allowing China to take even greater chunks of the market share. In the long run, this could pave the way for China to reap the benefits of enhanced diplomatic relations and economic ties, such as helping secure the lucrative energy deals it so doggedly seeks. Perhaps more worryingly for the United States, China’s influence-building endeavors through these sales would likely negatively impact U.S. influence over the long term in the process.

With Chinese officials typically tight-lipped over their arms sales activities and goals, it remains unclear the extent to which these sales to Latin America are a product of calculated Chinese strategy, or merely a highly advantageous byproduct of their defense companies’ successful engagement with the global arms trade. Nevertheless, whether these trends are out of strategy or serendipity, what is clear is that the sizable benefits to both China and its defense companies suggest that China is set to continue eating its way into the Latin American arms market — and into the United States’ influence in the region — into the future.

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Miragedriver

Brigadier
Argentina and US reestablish defense links after a nine-year freeze

Argentina and the United States are in the process of reestablishing strong defense links after a hiatus of seven years following this week's visit to the Pentagon of a high profile delegation from the ministry of defense which addressed several issues of mutual interest and common strategies.

The reborn friendly spirit is a result of the new Argentine government under president Mauricio Macri, which was blessed by a several-day visit to Argentina of president Barack Obama, last March, particularly since the new administration was only three months in office.

The delegation to Washington was headed by Angel Tello who has Deputy minister status as head of Military Strategy and Affairs, and Walter Ceballos, Defense Logistics Services and Emergencies Coordination secretary, while their host was, Rebecca Chávez, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

“Our objective is to retake the political coordination that was normal between Argentina and the United States, and more specifically we're planning participation in peace missions, retaking courses for military staff and exchange of officers and coordinating actions in the event of catastrophe and emergency situations” explained Tello.

Likewise to strengthen bilateral defense relations ahead of the next Americas Defense ministers conference scheduled to take place in Trinidad Tobago in October.

“This is the first meeting of its kind since 2009, and catastrophe collaboration was one of the points addressed, particularly ”establishing a coordination mechanism for emergencies in the whole continent. The Ecuador earthquake comes to the point, many countries aided but independently, if this was a coordinated effort, results should have been better“, said Tello.

The Argentine delegation also revealed that the US pretends a more active contribution from Argentina in peace missions, and although the country is present in Haiti and Cyprus, ”we also talked about the possibility that Argentina sends a peace force to Colombia, once the final accord with the guerrillas is signed, under UN supervision. The military would be un armed, and acting as observers-inspectors“.

But as usually happens with this kind of meetings and official statements, what matters are the other issues addressed and not revealed. In effect, according to Argentine diplomatic sources the possibility of setting up a ”logistics base or station“ in Tierra del Fuego was in the agenda when the delegation left for Washington.

Most significant is Argentina's aspirations of having access to Northrop F5 fighter jets and Mentor T-34 training aircraft, in an attempt to replace de decommissioned Mirages, but this is highly conditioned by the current budget and financial situation faced by the Macri administration.”Brazil and Chile have F5s so it would reestablish a regional balance“.

The chances of considering a squadron of F/16s as was requested to US ambassador in Argentina Noah Namet in a letter dated 27 July 2015, seems to have been downgraded because this would only be possible with a generous ”financial flexibility” from the US.

However this has not impeded a fluid exchange, with the US State Department on defense issues. In effect last April, Rose Eilene Gottemoeller, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security for the U.S. State Department made an official visit to the Ministry of Defense in Buenos Aires. Furthermore the contacts with the Pentagon not only include the Ministry of Defense but also Fulvio Pompeo, head of Strategic Affairs and a strong candidate to take foreign secretary Susana Malcorra's post if she effectively is nominated as a candidate to replace UN Secretary General Ban Ki/moon.

Furthermore the US has already extended a hand when it comes to equipments for humanitarian aid, particularly transport aircraft. The upgrading of Argentina's ageing Hercules C 130 have benefitted from the US program of Foreign Military Sales, and a refurbished Hercules was officially presented earlier this month. In early April, US Air Force Secretary Deborah James also visited its Argentine peers in Buenos Aires.

Skimpy budgets and lack of financing have limited Argentina's capacity to recover loss of equipment and make the necessary minimum maintenance. Argentina has no near the power or fire capacity of the seventies and early eighties when it was involved in the South Atlantic conflict.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Argentina and US reestablish defense links after a nine-year freeze

Argentina and the United States are in the process of reestablishing strong defense links after a hiatus of seven years following this week's visit to the Pentagon of a high profile delegation from the ministry of defense which addressed several issues of mutual interest and common strategies.

The reborn friendly spirit is a result of the new Argentine government under president Mauricio Macri, which was blessed by a several-day visit to Argentina of president Barack Obama, last March, particularly since the new administration was only three months in office.
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My friend, this is a direct result of the defeat of the Peronist Party and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The people of Argentina are to thank...sadly, it was such a close election, even with the diasasters she had inflicted.

Hopefully, with success, more and more Argentine people will turn back to tried and true principles for a strong country, strong families, strong financials, etc.

I hope and pray it is so.

Hehehe...I know it is not likely, but wouldn't;t it be wonderful for Argentina to get strong enough to revive the F-20 program and get a few squadrons of those aircraft?

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b787

Captain
My friend, this is a direct result of the defeat of the Peronist Party and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The people of Argentina are to thank...sadly, it was such a close election, even with the diasasters she had inflicted.
I have good Argentine friends to whom Macri is a disaster, so everything depends what Glasses you wear
 

Miragedriver

Brigadier
My friend, this is a direct result of the defeat of the Peronist Party and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The people of Argentina are to thank...sadly, it was such a close election, even with the diasasters she had inflicted.
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It was close due to the tremendous amount of voter fraud and the strong government unions.

The new president eliminated thousands of government jobs by just placing paychecks on government employees desks. There were thousand that collected a paycheck and didn’t even have offices.


Hehehe...I know it is not likely, but wouldn't;t it be wonderful for Argentina to get strong enough to revive the F-20 program and get a few squadrons of those aircraft?

View attachment 31296


Trying not to sound like a twenty year old, but that would be “freeking awesome”
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
I have good Argentine friends to whom Macri is a disaster, so everything depends what Glasses you wear
Oh yes...that is always the case.

But time will determine whether he is or is not.

I know many progressive leftists to this day who believe Reagan was a disaster because of their rose colored glasses.

But as a young man, buying our first house under Carter, and then refinancing it, selling it, and getting the second under Reagan, not to mention having four kids while Reagan was in office...Reagan was a God-send to our nation. Economically, internationally, jobs wise, .etc., etc.

My point was that the Argentine people made the decision...and they did.

Whether it will turn out to be anything like as a good a decision as Reagan, only time will tell. He simply has not been in long enough to tell whether his policies are going to have that good an impact.

But I simply find it hard to believe that they could end up any worse than his predecessor.
 
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