The Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Argentina – FAA) has selected the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50 Fighting Eagle to be its new interim fighter aircraft, Jane’s reported on July 23 2019. Argentina will procure 10 FA-50 from KAI.
The officer, who requested not to be identified as the deal is not finalised, said he expects the government to sign off on the planned procurement “in the near future”, with deliveries to commence shortly after. Argentina has national presidential elections at the end of October, and the officer noted that these may slightly prolong the timeline, but that he still expects the deal to go through.
An Argentine delegation first visited the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (RoKAF’s) 16th Fighter Wing at Yecheon on 7 September 2016, when an FAA pilot tested a TA-50 Golden Eagle operational trainer variant of the FA-50. Argentine delegation also visited Chengdu aircraft manufacturing facilities to discuss possible acquisitions of J-10.
Other aircraft types that the FAA has reportedly considered include the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Kfir, the Dassault Mirage F1, the Alenia M-346FT, the Aero L-159 ALCA, the CAC and PAC joint venture JF-17 Thunder, and the Chengdu J-10 also known as export variant FC-20.
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