As part of the sustained air activity carried out by the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic to maintain its military presence in the Malvinas Islands, a Royal Air Force (RAF) Airbus KC Mk 2 Voyager tanker aircraft, registration ZZ333, made a stop at a Chilean Air Force (FACh) base after operating from Mount Pleasant Air Base. The movement, tracked through open-source flight monitoring platforms, reinforces the UK’s logistical projection between the archipelago and the Antarctic axis, marking a new chapter in Britain’s presence in the region.
The KC Mk 2 Voyager flight, identified under the callsign RRR9000, departed Mount Pleasant Air Base on January 26, 2026, at 12:35, landing in Santiago de Chile at 17:15 after a direct leg of 4 hours and 40 minutes. Once in Chilean territory, the aircraft was observed at facilities belonging to Air Group No. 10 of the Chilean Air Force. This type of deployment is not an isolated event, as days earlier a Royal Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft, also arriving from Mount Pleasant, had landed at the same facilities, reinforcing the trend of using South American nodes as part of the UK’s logistical sustainment network.
The stopover in Chile was preceded by a series of maneuvers involving the Voyager in flights over the South Atlantic and Antarctica. Between January 20 and 22, ZZ333 was tracked carrying out missions from Mount Pleasant under different operational callsigns, coinciding with the activity of the A400M Atlas ZM413. The latter was observed flying over the Antarctic Peninsula and areas near Argentina’s Joint Antarctic Base San Martín, close to the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Rothera Station. Coordination between both aircraft suggests an integrated refueling and logistical support scheme aimed at extending the endurance and reach of British missions in the far south.
The Voyager KC Mk 2 is currently the RAF’s primary aerial refueling platform, used to sustain operations of the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighters deployed in the Malvinas. Its participation in flights toward Chile and Antarctica confirms a coordinated logistical planning framework, in which the United Kingdom maintains a regional support network combining transport, refueling, and strategic stopovers in continental South America. In this sense, the observed pattern consolidates an air architecture linking key points of the British posture in the South Atlantic, with the Malvinas Islands serving as a hub projecting toward Antarctica.
The recent Voyager stopover thus fits into a recurring operational sequence. Just one week earlier, the A400M Atlas ZM413 had flown from Mount Pleasant to Santiago de Chile, using the same Chilean Air Force facilities. This aircraft, capable of transporting heavy cargo and personnel over long distances, is essential for sustaining the British detachment in the South Atlantic. For years, the United Kingdom has combined the use of A400Ms and Voyagers to reduce its reliance on maritime transport and maintain a constant air logistics bridge between the archipelago and the South American continent.
Beyond their technical dimension, these movements carry particular political and diplomatic significance. The overflight of British military aircraft in areas close to Argentine Antarctic bases, together with stopovers at Chilean military facilities, revives the debate over the militarization of the South Atlantic and the use of regional infrastructure by the United Kingdom. In this context, the continuity of operations linked to the Malvinas military posture—territory whose sovereignty remains disputed between Argentina and the United Kingdom—serves as a reminder that strategic competition in the far south remains active, even under the framework of logistical and scientific operations.
Images used for illustrative purposes.
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