A high-level Argentine military delegation visited Israel recently to finalize a purchase of Israeli fighter-jets. The Kfir has not been in operational use by the Israel Air Force for nearly 20 years and will be upgraded by Israel Aircraft Industries if the contract is signed. The deal is going ahead at a low point in Israeli-Argentine relations.

Argentina, which is undergoing a prolonged economic slump, could not afford to modernize its military and purchase front-line fighter aircraft, not even relatively advanced second-hand ones. President Cristina Kirchner, however, promised her generals to renew their fighter fleet, after they were forced to retire the Mirage jets, which were more than 40 years old. The cheapest available alternative was to buy a squadron (12-14 aircraft) of Kfirs, which were manufactured in the 1970s and early 1980s for around $200 million.

IAI built over 200 Kfirs. After two decades of service with the Israel Defense Forces, they were put in storage in the mid-1990s and replaced by F-16s. When IAI manages to sell some to a foreign air-force, it purchases the necessary number from the Defense Ministry and upgrades them with new avionics including a new Elta radar and ships them to the client. Dozens of planes were sold in this way to Sri Lanka, Colombia and Ecuador.

According to foreign sources, Kfirs were sold also to apartheid South Africa, though Pretoria claimed that the Cheetah jet, virtually identical to the Israeli fighters, was manufactured locally.

The Argentine deal comes at a low point in relations between Jerusalem and Buenos Aires in the wake of an agreement the Kirchner government made last year with Iran to jointly investigate the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish community building that killed 85 people and is widely believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah with Iranian backing. Despite this, there do not seem to be any obstacles in authorizing the sale and the technology transfer, among other reasons due to the longstanding relationship between the two militaries.

This will be Argentina's second purchase of Israeli fighter jets. In 1978, the military junta bought 39 used Neshers (the first Israeli fighter built based on the French Mirage 5s, which were ordered by Israel but embargoed by the De Gaulle government). The Neshers, which were called Daggers in Argentine service, participated in the 1982 Falklands war and continued flying until two years ago.

Israeli defense industry officials confirmed the details of the deal, which was also reported earlier this month in the Argentine weekly Perfil. The Argentinian Embassy in Israel and IAI declined to comment.

Open gallery view Kfir jets at the IAF Museum Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Open gallery view The Kfir Credit: Wikicommons, Haaretz