Argentina Finally Makes Payment For Five Dassault Super Etendard Strike Aircraft

The Argentine government has finally paid for the purchase of five second-hand Dassault Super Etendard strike aircraft, after an unexpected delay in the payment since an agreement on acquiring the aircraft had been reached in 2017, La Tribune reported Monday.

According to the report, the payment of EUR12.55 million (USD15.03 million) was made to France in mid-August.

Argentina had approved a payment on 10 May, 2018, for Super Etendards, along with a simulator, eight spare engines, and a large batch of spares and tooling.

The Super Etendards will be used to reconstitute the capacity of the 2nd Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Caza y Ataque (2nd Naval Attack Squadron) of the Argentine Navy, which operated Super Etendards from 1981 until 2013, when they were grounded due to a lack of spares.

Argentina will put three of the five modernized Etendards to service once they receive to re-train its pilots as the existing ones are grounded. The other two aircraft will be used to modernize the grounded Super Etendards.