Argentine Air Force - History

History

The Air Force's history begins with the establishment of the Argentine Army Aviation's Escuela de Aviación Militar (Military Aviation School) on 10 August 1912. Several military officers were amongst the pioneers of Argentine aviation, including Jorge Newbery, a retired Argentine Navy officer. The School began to turn out military pilots who participated in milestone events in Argentine aviation, such as the crossing of the Andes mountains.

In 1927 the Dirección General de Aeronáutica (General Directorate of Aeronautics) was created to coordinate the country's military aviation. In that same year the Fábrica Militar de Aviones (Military Aircraft Factory, FMA), which would become the heart of the country's aviation industry, was founded in Córdoba.

By 1938–39 the Argentine air force had about 3,200 staff (including about 200 officers), and maintained about 230 aircraft. About 150 of these were operated by the army and included Dewoitine D.27 and Curtiss P-36 Hawk fighters; Breguet 19, Fairey III and Stearman 76 D1 reconnaissance planes; Northrop A-17, North American NA-16, Martin B-10 heavy combat craft, Focke-Wulf Fw 58 as multi-role planes, and Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra, Junkers Ju 52, Douglas Dolphin, Curtiss T-32 Condor II and Fairchild 82 transporters. About 80 were operated by the navy and included the Supermarine Southampton, Supermarine Walrus, Fairey Seal, and Vought Corsair variants, Consolidated P2Y, and Grumman J2F Duck.

By the 1940s there were several air units in the Army and the Navy; the first step towards an independent force came on 11 February 1944 with the establishment of the Aeronautical Command, which would go on to become the Argentine Air Force on 4 January 1945, an independent force on par with the Army and the Navy.

Immediately after the end of World War II, in which the Argentine Air Force took no part, it began a process of modernization, incorporating aircraft such as the Gloster Meteor jet fighter, thus becoming the first air force in Latin America equipped with jet-propelled aircraft. In addition, a number of Avro Lincoln and Avro Lancaster bombers were acquired, creating a powerful strategic force in the region. The Air Force, with former Luftwaffe technicians, also began to develop its own aircraft, such as the Pulqui I and Pulqui II, making Argentina the first country in Latin America and the sixth in the world to develop jet fighter technology on its own.

In 1952 the Air Force began flight to supply the Antarctic scientific bases using ski-equipped C-47s and establishing Marambio Base on 25 September 1969. On 11 April 1970 they began landing C-130 Hercules aircraft, when the TC-61 commanded by Commodore Arturo Athos Gandolfi was the first airplane to land in Marambio, and the Fokker F-28 Fellowship presidential aircraft T-01 Patagonia is reported to be the first jet to have landed at Marambio, on 28 July 1973. and since the 1970s Twin Otters are also deployed.

During the 1970s the Air Force re-equipped itself with modern aircraft, including Mirage III interceptors, IAI Dagger multi-role fighters (Israeli derivatives of the Mirage V), A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft and C-130 Hercules cargo planes. Also, a counter-insurgency airplane, the Pucará, was used in substantial numbers.

The Falklands War ( Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas / Conflicto del Atlántico Sur ), took a great toll on the Air Force, which lost 60 aircraft. After the war, due to the deteriorating economic situation, international opposition and political distrust of the military, the Air Force was denied the resources needed to replace the war losses. This, coupled with diminishing budgets, led to a period of reduced activity and growing materiel obsolescence.

After the war Britain imposed an arms embargo on Argentina, which was discontinued in the 1990s. After attempts to acquire surplus IAI Kfirs or F-16As failed for economic and political reasons, the United States sold Argentina 36 A-4AR Fightinghawks, a refurbished and upgraded version of the A-4 Skyhawks used in the war.

The FAA has been greatly involved in United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world. They sent a Boeing 707 to the 1991 Gulf War. Since 1994 the UN Air contingent (UNFLIGHT) in Cyprus under UNFICYP mandate is provided by the FAA, having achieved 10,000 flight hours by 2003 without any accidents. The FAA has also since 2005 deployed Bell 212 helicopters to Haiti under MINUSTAH mandate.

In early 2005 the top seventeen brigadiers of the Air Force, including the Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Carlos Rohde, were sacked by President Néstor Kirchner following a scandal involving drug trafficking through Ezeiza International Airport. Kirchner cited failures in the security systems of Argentine airports (which were overseen by the National Aeronautic Police, a branch of the Air Force) and cover-ups of the scandal; it later became known that many government agencies, among them the Interior Ministry, the Customs Administration and the Secretariat of State Intelligence knew about the drug trafficking.

The primary concerns of the Air Force as of 2010 are the establishment of a radar network for control of the country's airspace, the replacement of its older combat aircraft (Mirage III, Mirage V) and the incorporation of new technologies. The possibility of purchasing surplus French Air Force Mirage 2000C fighters, like the option chosen by the Brazilian Air Force, has been considered.

Since the 1990s the FAA has established good relations with its neighbours, the Brazilian and Chilean Air Forces. They annually meet, on a rotation basis, in the joint exercises Cruzex in Brazil, Ceibo in Argentina and Salitre in Chile.

In 2007 an FAA FMA IA 58 Pucará was converted to use a modified engine operating on soy-derived bio-jet fuel. The project, financed and directed by the Argentine Government (Secretaría de Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación Productiva de la Nación), made Argentina the second nation in the world to propel an aircraft with biojet fuel. The purpose of the project is to make the FAA less reliant on fossil fuels.

As of 2010 budgetary constraints continued, leading to the disbanding of the Boeing 707 transport squadron and maintenance problems for half of the C-130 Hercules fleet. This was particularly evident when, in a matter of days in March of that year, the same C-130 aircraft could be seen, in addition to their routine missions, traveling 3 to times to Haiti, 9 times to Chile (in both cases delivering humanitarian aid) and also doing a resupply airdrop to the Argentine southernmost Antarctic base Belgrano II.

In August 2010 a contract was signed for two Mi-17E helicopters, plus an option on a further three, to support Antarctic bases although no official destination form them have been release yet and is possible that they will be assigned to the Argentine Army Aviation.