The President of Argentina, Javier Millay, approved the plan to supply Ukraine with five military aircraft, the Argentine publication reports Infobae.
It concerns the shipment of five Super-Étendard fighter jets, which are decommissioned due to the embargo that Great Britain applies against Argentina as a result of the 1982 Falkland (Malvina) Islands war.
The Super-Étendard attack aircraft was produced by the French company Dassault Aviation since 1974. The planes were also used during the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s and strikes against Islamic State positions in 2015. In 2016, France stopped operating these machines, and in 2023, the Argentine government made a similar decision.
France’s participation was key to overcoming the geopolitical obstacle from London. Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino and Defense Minister Luis Petri have reportedly worked for weeks to advance the secretive move, which also involves the United States and NATO.
Mondino discussed the difficult issue during meetings she held in Paris with French Foreign Minister Stéphane Sejournay, during a secret meeting she held with NATO in Brussels, and during visits to the White House by Jake Sullivan, an adviser to Joe Biden from of national security.
Javier Miley’s presidential will to send planes to Ukraine has a geopolitical obstacle.
Five fighters are stored at Espora Air Force Base in Puerto Belgrano. Devices that allow the pilot’s seat to be ejected in the event of an emergency are required.
Argentina does not have access to these devices due to an embargo imposed by Great Britain, and since the planes arrived in the country in 2019, they have not actually been used.
Argentina’s president from 2015 to 2019, Mauricio Macri, bought them knowing they would remain on the ground: London would never give the country permission to activate these planes, which proved their worth during the 1982 Malvinas War.
Buenos Aires has already decided how to overcome the embargo and give Ukraine access to planes.
Argentina will exchange with France: the Super-Étendard for other equipment – drones or helicopters, whichever is offered – and the Macron administration will be responsible for deploying new devices that allow the pilot’s seat to be ejected.
This scheme also means that Argentina will not take a direct part in the war.
However, the plan approved by Millais now also faces complications due to the political situation in France. Macron’s supporters lost in the elections to the European Parliament, after which the president called early parliamentary elections, the second round of which will be held on July 7.
If supporters of Marine Le Pen, who opposes the supply of arms to Ukraine and previously sympathized with Putin, win the election and form a government, this will create new difficulties for the transfer of aircraft.
