As the public bidding of the new generation of Argentina fighter is approaching, the shortlisted MiG-35, " Xiaolong ", LCA and F-16 fighter are about to compete fiercely. However, the most tense thing at present is not the countries participating in the bidding, but the United Kingdom, which has always prevented Argentina from obtaining advanced weapons systems.
According to the British Defense News website, the UK is making every effort to prevent Argentina from purchasing the "Joinlong" fighter jet from China. This is because the "Joinlong" fighter jet is the strongest among the four bidding models, posing a great challenge to the British's naval and air force deployed on , the island of Madonna . However, the UK does not intend to completely block the procurement path of Argentina's new fighter jets and allows it to purchase US F-16 fighter jets, which is somewhat unexpected.
British media pointed out that Argentina has been considering purchasing new fighter jets since the retirement of the "Mage" fighter jet in 2015 to enhance its air force strength. However, due to funding restrictions, Argentina initially considered introducing Spanish second-hand "Mage" F-1 and Israeli second-hand "Junior Lion" fighter jets. Later, Argentina considered introducing the new Swedish "Gripen" fighter jets and South Korea's FA-50 fighter jets. However, the above fighter jets were ultimately not included in the list due to the obstruction of the UK.
After the Cambridge War, Britain imposed an arms embargo on Argentina. In the following 40 years, Argentine Air Force did not obtain any cash fighter jets from outside, and could only continue to rely on the old "Phantom" fighter jets and A-4 attack aircraft . These two fighter jets made great contributions in the Cambridge War. However, with the retirement of the "Mage" fighter jet, the Argentine Air Force has been in an embarrassing situation of inorganic availability, while the Chile , which has a border dispute with Argentina, successfully bought the advanced F-16C/D fighter jet, which put the Argentine military in a very passive position. In addition, the Argentine Air Force urgently needs advanced fighter jets that can fight against British naval and air forces and gain air superiority on Tsushima Island. In this context, the Argentine fighter jet procurement case seems particularly urgent.
00 British media pointed out that Argentina lost a chance to acquire advanced American fighter jets around 2000. In 1998, Argentina became the sixth country in the world to receive the title of "main non- NATO allies" after Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. During this period, the United States intends to provide 42 F-16A/B fighter jets to Argentina, but due to the poor economic situation in Argentina, the cooperation ended up in vain.
Later, the UK used the cut-off of Martin-Baker ejection seats as bargaining chips to prohibit any fighter jets using this ejection seat to participate in the Argentine fighter jet bidding, so there are very few models available for Argentina to choose from. Currently, the "Fight Long" fighter jets jointly jointly with China and Pakistan and Russia's MiG-35 fighter jets have participated in the bidding. However, in the eyes of British media, the "Fight Long" fighter jets have obvious advantages, because the quotes of the "Fight Long" fighter jets are less than half of the MiG-35 fighter jets, which is more suitable for Argentina, which is financially tight.
However, after China and Russia participated in the bid for advanced Argentina fighter jets, the United States stood up at this time and began to vigorously promote the F-16A/B fighter jets that had not been successfully cooperated to Argentina. According to the British Defense News website, the United States is actively calling on Britain to reduce the extent of its arms embargo on Argentina to prevent the spread of Chinese influence in South America. British media pointed out that the United States is currently actively persuading the UK to sell F-16 fighter jets to Argentina. If the UK insists on an arms embargo on Argentina, then China and Russia's influence in South America will expand sharply. Currently, countries such as Peru , Venezuela have used Russian fighter jets, while countries such as Uruguay and Bolivia are also considering purchasing Russian or Chinese light fighter jets to enhance the strength of their own air force. The traditional "backyard" of the United States and Britain are losing, which is a scenario that the United States, Britain and other countries are reluctant to see.
British media pointed out that under the agitation of the United States, the United Kingdom maintained a tacit attitude towards the United States' sale of F-16 fighter jets to Argentina. Argentina has always been eager to obtain American fighter jets. At this time, the participation of F-16 fighter jets in the bidding will inevitably greatly compress the competitive advantage of the "Joinlong" fighter jets and prevent China's influence from further penetrating the South American region. In addition, for the UK, what the US sells is just second-hand old F-16A/B fighter jets, with extremely limited attack capabilities. The UK is well aware of this fighter jet. F-16 cannot pose a substantial threat to British naval and air forces. Therefore, British media believe that F-16 fighter jets are very likely to stir up Argentina's fighter jet bidding, and Britain will eventually allow US F-16 fighter jets to participate in the bidding. After all, it is more urgent to prevent China's influence from expanding in South America than the current situation in the Cambridge Islands.
The author believes that in addition to preventing China's influence in South America, the primary reason why Britain tried its best to prevent the "Joinlong" fighter jet from settling in Argentina is that this fighter jet poses a serious threat to Britain's naval and air superiority in the Cambridge Island. After the Falklands War, the strength of the Argentine Navy and Air Force was severely damaged, and it was difficult to launch a new round of offensive against the Falklands 500 kilometers away. For this reason, Britain only deployed 4 "Typhoon" fighters, 2 frigate and more than a thousand soldiers on the Falklands. These forces have formed a comprehensive advantage over Argentina. Once the "Fight-Yuan" fighter jets settled in Argentina, Britain's advantage will soon disappear.
Although the "Joinlong" fighter is positioned as a light fighter, the combat radius after carrying three sub-fuel tanks has reached more than 1,000 kilometers, and the attack radius can completely cover the Ma Island. Compared with the "Typhoon" fighter jets on Horse Island, the "Jiaolong" fighter jets have a very obvious advantage, which is the ability to fight air combat beyond the visual range. The "Jiaolong" fighter is equipped with KLJ-7A active phased array radar and new avionics system. Among them, the maximum detection distance of the target of RCS=5㎡ can reach 170 kilometers. The overall performance is comparable to the AN/APG-81 radar equipped by the F-35 fighter. It is significantly better than the ECR090 pulse Doppler radar equipped by the "Typhoon" fighter in terms of detection distance, detection accuracy, multi-target processing capability, anti-interference ability, etc., which can allow the "Jiaolong" fighter to gain the advantage of discovering the enemy first. In addition, the maximum range of the Pili-15E air-to-air missile equipped by the "Jiaolong" fighter has reached 145 kilometers, and its overall performance is comparable to the "Meteor" air-to-air missile equipped by the "Typhoon" fighter, which can give the "Jiaolong" fighter the advantage of over-visual air combat.
In addition to its powerful over-visual air combat capabilities, the "Joinlong" fighter also has extremely powerful anti-ship combat capabilities, and can carry two C-802AK or two CM-400AKG anti-ship missiles. The former is a subsonic anti-ship missile with a range of more than 200 kilometers, and the latter is a supersonic anti-ship missile with a range of 250 kilometers. Both missiles and can launch attacks outside the defense zone of the Ziyuan-30 air defense missile equipped by the British Type 45 destroyer, posing a serious threat to the British fleet. Because the most advanced destroyer, , was sunk by the anti-ship missile launched by Argentine fighter jets, so the UK was extremely concerned about the anti-ship combat capabilities of the Argentine Air Force, and the C-802AK and CM-400AKG anti-ship missiles were not subject to any restrictions by the UK, so the UK tried its best to prevent Argentina from obtaining the "Joinlong" fighter jets.
In addition to the comprehensive combat power fully meets Argentina's needs, the "Joinlong" fighter has the lowest quotation among the four shortlisted fighter jets, which is 30% lower than the second-hand F-16A/B fighter jets in the United States. This is simply too good for Argentina, which is tight. In addition to military cooperation, our country can also provide large-scale investment in Argentina to restore its economic vitality, which other three countries cannot do.
The best choice for Argentina is the "Fighter-Yuan" fighter jet, and under the political temptation of the United States, the possibility of choosing the F-16 fighter jet is still very high. So which fighter jet can be settled in South America in the end needs Argentina's final decision, and I hope to make an informed choice.
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