By the end of November 2015, Argentina’s Air Force will retire its fleet of Mirage fighters, according to the local web portal El Eco; the nation’s air defense will then be mostly entrusted to domestically-produced FMA IA-63 Pampa training and combat aircraft.
The announcement of the cancellation of the last fighter flight was made on August 13, 2015 during the celebration of the 103rd anniversary of the Argentine Air Force’s Tandil Airbase, the home base of the country’s 6th Aviation Brigade, which is equipped with Mirage fighters.
According to the popular Russian military blog bmpd, the 6th Air Brigade has in its possession ten Dassault Mirage IIIEA, two Mirage IIIDA “doubles”, seven Dassault Mirage 5P, and 11 Finger IIIB (a modernized version of the Israeli IAI Nesher fighter).
However, the actual total number of fighters in flying condition is no more than seven or eight aircraft. Others suffer from physical deterioration or lack necessary spare parts (during the opening ceremony on August 13, only six fighters of all types made it into the air).
After the decommissioning of the Mirage fighter aircraft, the country’s Air Force will be left with only 32 A-4AR Fightinghawk (a modified version of the US-produced A-4M Skyhawk attack aircraft), which are also experiencing an acute shortage of spare parts, and 19 Argentinian-made IA-63 Pampa.
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