Argentina: Signing a letter of intent to purchase 24 used F-16 aircraft from Denmark

The Argentine government on Tuesday signed a statement of intent to purchase 24 F-16 fighter jets from Denmark, Defense Minister Luis Petrie announced after a meeting with his Danish counterpart Lund Poulsen.

“We are laying the foundations for security cooperation between Denmark, the United States and Argentina,” Defense Minister Petrie said on the X platform, without going into details about Denmark’s purchase price for the F-16s.

According to the Ministry of Defense in Copenhagen, it is worth about 2.1 billion kroner (280 million euros) and also includes spare parts, engines, simulators and other training materials. In a press release, Mr. Lund Poulsen also noted that the F-16 deal was reached “in cooperation with the United States.”

The Argentine press highlighted the White House's support for Buenos Aires' purchase of American-designed F-16 aircraft.

The head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, visited Buenos Aires last month and met with the new Argentine President, Javier Millay, who assured him that his country “has decided to return to the side of the West.”

In recent years, China and India have approached Argentina to purchase combat aircraft. The Latin American country's air force in 2017 retired the last Mirage jets from its fleet – the French-designed fighter had until then been its flagship aircraft – after four decades.

For its part, Denmark, which is gradually modernizing its fleet by acquiring F-35 aircraft, has promised to deliver 19 F-16 fighters to Ukraine and is training Ukrainian pilots to operate them on its territory.

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