Milei shares identical regional interests with the White House, and Biden instructed his staff to facilitate the management of the Advancing Liberty government on key issues.
With the explicit backing of the Joseph Biden administration, Argentina has signed a letter of intent with Denmark for 24 F16 aircraft. Argentina’s Defense Minister Luis Petri and his Danish counterpart, Troels Lund Poulsen, met at the Libertador Building to formalize a political decision by Javier Milei aimed at restoring the military capability of the Air Force.
Following the meeting between Petri and Poulsen, a lunch was served – including empanadas and roasted meat – attended by Chief of Staff Nicolás Posse and Marc Stanley, the United States Ambassador to Argentina. Petri and Posse thanked the Danish government and the White House for their efforts in finalizing the commercial deal, while Poulsen and Stanley praised Milei’s political will to expedite a decision that involved confronting China.
Petri will travel to Copenhagen in mid-April, where the final contract for the 24 F16 aircraft will be signed. The aircraft, manufactured by Lockheed Martin – an American company – will begin arriving in December 2024, as explained to Infobae at Balcarce 50.
Once Petri and his colleague Poulsen have signed, the United States will make available to Argentina a $40 million contract for F16 equipment. This is a donation from the Biden administration that Ambassador Stanley secured after intense behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Milei shares identical regional interests with the White House, and Biden instructed his staff to facilitate the management of the Advancing Liberty government on key issues that the United States can support in favor of Argentina. From this perspective, the negotiation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was the first political event that demonstrated the alignment between the US and Argentina.
The president met with Jake Sullivan in Washington – Biden’s National Security Advisor -, welcomed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the White House, and his Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse, held two meetings with William Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where the central issue was one: China and its offensive in Latin America.
From this perspective, the Democratic administration argued that Beijing should not have access to the rare minerals that Argentina possesses, nor should it act as a seller of military technology to the Armed Forces. Sullivan, Blinken, and Burns knew that Xi Jinping was offering 34 JF17 warplanes at a bargain price, and they recommended that China’s soft power operation be permanently rejected.
Milei accepted the White House’s suggestion, and in exchange, the State Department, the National Security Council, and the Pentagon offered an alternative that involved the United Kingdom and Denmark. Argentina could access 24 F16 aircraft – initially, there were 34 combat aircraft – which were manufactured by Lockheed Martin and were in the possession of the Danish Air Force.
In mid-October 2023, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Regional Security Mira Resnick told journalists from the region that the case had been presented to Congress and that there were no major objections.
“The F-16 is a reliable and proven platform that will allow for regular training and exercises to increase Argentina’s interoperability with its neighbors and the United States,” Resnick told reporters.
The United States Congress greenlit the purchase-sale operation with Denmark, but it was pending acceptance from the Foreign Office regarding the geopolitical decision of the White House. It was a decision that buried over forty years – since 1982 – of systematic resistance to requests from Balcarce 50.
Argentina defends national sovereignty in the Malvinas Islands, which the United Kingdom systematically rejects. In this context, London recurrently refused to allow Argentina access to military technology with English parts. And the explanation is obvious: no occupying state would allow its potential enemy to access military resources that could be used against it.
Washington made an unofficial approach with the Foreign Office and managed to get London to accept that the Milei administration could purchase the 24 aircraft from Denmark. Biden’s staff also presented an obvious argument: it is better to allow the sale of Danish aircraft to Argentina than to have China place its JF17 planes to deepen its influence in Latin America and Argentina.
The F16 aircraft represent a substantial improvement in the Air Force’s military capability, which has been almost non-existent since the war of Malvinas/Falklands in 1982. However, this improvement will not be a short and automatic process: it will require new hangars, training, and economic resources, which are scarce in the current situation.
