As has been pointed out in past publications, the incorporation of F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters into the Argentine Air Force alone does not constitute the “silver bullet” to get the Nation’s Military Instrument back on its feet. This Weapons System must be combined with a whole series of capabilities, both on the ground and in the air, as well as in cyberspace, in order to generate an effect in a given theater or area of operations. Over the past few months, the country began the long road to achieving Initial Operational Capability, whose next major milestone will be the arrival of the first six airworthy units at Área Material Río Cuarto next December.
Nevertheless, as has been noted from various circles —military, political, and academic— the future F-16s must be combined and employed with a whole series of aerial platforms, in order to extend their operational range and multiply their capabilities. The latter can only be achieved through the acquisition and adoption of a capability unprecedented for the Argentine Air Force.
More specifically, and in line with what has been observed at the regional level, this involves the incorporation of an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform, a capability the Institution has never had, despite past proposals being made.
The regional panorama
Currently, in the regional panorama, only two countries possess AEW&C capabilities: the Chilean Air Force (FACh), which has replaced its old Boeing 707 Condor with two ex-Royal Air Force E-3D Sentrys, and the Brazilian Air Force, which operates the E-99/R-99 pair. Recently, the latter advanced in modernizing its E-99 fleet, which was redesignated E-99M with Saab’s support.
At the same time, within the current trend of combat aircraft fleet renewal in the region, the requirement of the Peruvian Air Force must be mentioned. It has argued that, alongside the purchase of 24 new multirole fighters, it must also move forward with the acquisition of an AEW&C platform. In this regard, the proposal received from the Swedish government to equip with the new Saab GlobalEye, complementing the Saab Gripen E/F offered, stands out.
An indispensable capability
As has become popularized in public opinion, these “eyes in the sky” provide an airborne capability to operate in a given geographical area, working together with ground radar stations as well as in locations lacking them.
Operating from high altitudes, they enable the detection of targets hundreds of kilometers away, offering a complete picture of the area of operations, both for allied aircraft operating in the air and for command and control centers on the ground. In this regard, aircraft of this class are also often combined with secondary signals intelligence collection capabilities, both communications and electromagnetic spectrum, which are indispensable for military intelligence operations.
Likewise, in peacetime and in support of other national government agencies, they can perform surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence missions in various geographic environments, detecting hundreds of aerial, ground, and naval targets, depending, of course, on the sensors installed according to the operating force’s requirements.
Some global trends
As can be seen in the latest defense industry news, the current state of this capability segment is in full transition. The old four-engine aircraft that crossed the skies during the Cold War, such as the E-3 Sentry, are giving way to a new generation of aircraft equipped with airborne AESA radars.
In this sense, as the natural replacement for the Sentry, the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail —based on the Boeing 737 platform— has emerged as its successor, being operated by the Royal Australian Air Force as the first user, followed by Turkey, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, and more recently selected by NATO as its future AEW&C. However, what seemed to be its main operator, the U.S. Air Force, has put into question the continuity of the development program of two prototypes to replace its Sentrys, in a debate full of complexities between the Republican government, military leadership, and Congress.
The other observed trend is based on the use of commercial or regional passenger jets converted into AEW&C platforms, with Saab’s GlobalEye standing out in this segment. It is based on the Bombardier Global 6000/6500 and integrated with the Erieye AESA radar. However, this sensor also equips, in various versions, the Brazilian Air Force’s E-99s, based on the Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft; a platform also selected by the Air Forces of Greece, Mexico, and India —the latter with the installation of a locally developed AESA radar, designated NETRA Mk I.
The future eyes beyond the horizon of the Argentine Air Force’s F-16s
With the above in mind, there is no doubt that the future incorporation of the F-16 must form a sort of initial triad of weapons systems: the combat aircraft themselves, in charge of protecting and covering the airspace; the AEW&C aircraft, responsible for surveillance, monitoring, and vectoring; and an aerial refueling aircraft. In turn, this triad is complemented on the ground by a whole series of additional capabilities: sustainment and maintenance, operator training, ground radar stations, among others.
Currently, the Argentine Air Force has been focusing its main efforts on the first element of this triad, the F-16. As for the other two, as has been officially mentioned, the Institution seeks to advance in the acquisition of compatible refueling aircraft, namely the KC-135R, which, complementarily, would also allow the true recovery of strategic airlift capabilities, which have not been restored with the incorporation of a single Boeing 737 after the retirement of the Boeing 707s.
Finally, and returning to the focus of what was previously mentioned, the last element of the triad constitutes in itself a challenge that deserves to be undertaken with solutions currently available on the market, in order to incorporate an airborne early warning and control capability that the Air Force must adopt sooner rather than later. This would entail adding a pioneering capability for the Institution, which has never in its history operated such a platform.
*Original text written in Spanish by Juan José Roldán
You may also like: With the progress in the transfer of its F-16s to Argentina and Ukraine, Denmark is reportedly negotiating the purchase of additional F-35A fighters from the United States
