The 13 million Euro purchase also includes a flight simulator.
The five Super Étendard attack aircraft for Argentina left France for Bahia Blanca (Argentina) on board cargo ship Lily Auerbach that is slated to berth on May 10, 2019 to offload its precious cargo.
Wrapped in colorful green plastic and accompanied with 33 crates with spare parts, this bulky load marks the restart of the Super Étendard era with the Comanda de Aviación Naval’s EA32 (2 Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Caza y Ataque of the 3 Escuadra Aeronaval), Scramble Magazine says.
The 13 million Euro purchase also includes a flight simulator.
However the dispatch is at least six months late. The Super Étendards were supposed to be ready to provide combat air patrol for last December’s G20 summit in Buenos Aires which convened world leaders, president Donald Trump, president Xi, Russia’s Putin, PM Theresa May, France’s Emmanuel Macron among others.
The refurbished Super Étendards are an advanced version of the Aviación Naval (Argentine Navy) fighter bombers that played an important role during the 1982 Falklands’ conflict.
“The five Super Étendards were loaded this week in France and are in route to Argentina. Besides the aircraft there are spares and a flight simulator to train our pilots”, the Argentine ministry of defense pointed out.
Noteworthy the Super Étendards were decommissioned by the French Navy in 2016.
French President announced on Jan. 26, 2018 that the defense ministers of Argentina and France have signed a contract for the sale of five Super Étendard attack aircraft to Argentina.
Argentina was in talks with France since May 2017 to buy refurbished Super Étendards.
The Argentine ministry of defense was quoted as saying that the “transaction provides excellent value, and under very favorable conditions. […] Our pilots must be able to train in modern aircraft.”
The Argentine military re-equipment program involves also four new patrol ships which are currently under construction at the Tandanor yards with support from France, Italy and China.
Photo credit: Martín Otero via Wikimedia Commons
