Argentina is a country with strong strength in South America, but the country's process of purchasing fighter jets is full of twists and turns. Previously, media revealed that Argentina's fighter jet procurement has made another "moment", so will they choose our Fighter Dragon?

Argentina is a country with strong strength in South America, but the process of purchasing fighter can be regarded as twists and turns . Previously, media revealed that Argentina's fighter jet procurement has made another "movement". So will they choose our Xiaolong ?

Advanced replacement of Argentine Air Force

At present, the equipment of Argentine Air Force has indeed reached the point where has to be replaced with . After the Falklands War in the 1980s, Argentina's economic situation became worse and the Air Force equipment gradually aging and disrepair. Currently, the main fighter of the Argentine Air Force is the IA58 attack aircraft - you should know, this is a very rare propeller aircraft in modern times. Therefore, for the Argentine Air Force, the update of equipment is the top priority.

The Argentine Air Force's requirements for the next generation of main aircraft are basically the template for fourth-generation fighter . First, it is equipped with active phased array radar , which has certain anti-interference capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities; second, the flight speed exceeds Mach 1.8, reaching the standard of supersonic cruise ; finally, it has certain over-visual strike capabilities, which can be compatible with the world's mainstream medium-range air-to-air missiles.

From a propeller plane to a modern fourth-generation fighter? It has to be said that although the Argentine Air Force is down and out, , it still has some ambitions.

. Now the models of the fourth-generation fighter in the world are very complete . From China's "Fighter Dragon" to Russia's MiG-35, the United States' F-16, and Europe's Phantom , Gripen , and even South Korea's FA-50 are all models of this level. Overall, the performance requirements of the Argentine Air Force are not very high.

But the difficulty of the Argentine Air Force in order to upgrade equipment is not that there is no aircraft to choose from, but that "too picky in taste" . As a country that has fought with Britain, Argentina obviously will not consider the fighter jets of European countries. Once both sides are at a loss, European countries have a high probability of "wearing a pair of pants" with Britain and directly breaking the weapons supply and maintenance of the fighter jets. At that time, it will probably be a waste of military spending.

considers "Fight Long"?

For the Argentine Air Force, in addition to European models, Russia's MiG-35 is also a type that is "unwilling to buy". The reason is very simple. The MiG-35's avionics system is an embarrassing existence of . Since Russia really can't make any move in the field of light electronics, Russian fighter jets are no longer the "hot cake" in the arms market.

Then the models considered by the Argentine Air Force are nothing more than China's "Fight Long" and the US's F-16. South Korea's FA-50 is assembled and even the target of self-produced and developed by itself cannot reach , so it does not have the strength to compete with the "Fight Long" and F-16. So will the Argentine Air Force purchase the "Fight Long"?

If you compare "Fight Long" with F-16, the two basically belong to the level of each with their strengths . The advantages of "Jiaolong" are that it has low cost, low maintenance costs, advanced avionics systems, and strong detection power of radar . The advantage of the F-16 is that it has outstanding actual combat performance, a slight advantage in range, and strong ability to strike beyond visual range.

In fact, after taking a look at this, the "Fight Long" should be the wiser choice of for the Argentine Air Force . As a South American country with deteriorating economic conditions, Argentina's military expenditure is extremely limited, and the funds used to purchase advanced fighter jets are even more difficult. According to data disclosed by Argentina, they allocated only $680 million to the Air Force this time.

How much is the cost of an F-16? The brand new model has a whopping 80 million , and even the second-hand F-16 has a net worth of 20 million US dollars. This only calculates the price of the aircraft itself, and does not count the remaining costs such as weapons and maintenance lines.

And the "Joinlong" fighter jet has a reputation for being cheap and affordable all over the world.The new "Jiaolong" standard for a fourth-generation aircraft costs only 25 million , and China will generously give out additional aircraft maintenance lines to reduce customer maintenance costs.

"Jiaolong" is a wiser choice

If the Argentine Air Force uses this mere US$680 million to purchase the F-16, at best, it can only import about 8 , and then use the remaining money to introduce missiles, replace parts, maintain lines, etc. But Argentina's land area is not small, reaching 2.7804 million square kilometers, ranking eighth in the world. It would be a bit embarrassing to use 8 F-16s to achieve the goal of protecting the country.

and purchase the "Joinlong" fighter jet, Argentina can introduce at least 24~26 fighter jets , and directly add an air force squadron, which can barely cover Argentina's vast territory and airspace. Therefore, if the Argentine Air Force pursues pragmatism, the "Fight-Yong" is undoubtedly a wiser choice.

And one thing is very important, that is, there is an inexplicable "ambiguous relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom. Last time in the British-Ama War, the United States firmly implemented the policy of "referring to Britain and neglecting Afghanistan", and even publicly claimed that "the United States will ensure that Britain will no longer experience the military defeat of the Suez Canal War , and ensure its due defense obligations and status as a major power in the Western Hemisphere."

Therefore, if Argentina purchased the F-16, it needs to think about whether it would enter the footsteps of Iran in the past . Iran spent a lot of money to introduce a large number of F-14s in the last century. As a result, as the US-Iran relations reached a freezing point, the F-14 imported by Iran soon became a "one-time fighter" with one missile less than one missile, and could only become a "building block air force" that dismantle and supplement each other's parts.

, and the imported "Fight Long" in China, , does not have this concern . As a major country that is independent and independent, China will not form alliances with any force. Therefore, purchasing the "Fight-Yuan" can ensure that the Argentine Air Force receives complete and continuous technical support.