Argentine defense industry
Encyclopedia
Defense industry
The defense industry, also called the military industry, comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military materiel, equipment and facilities...
has developed over the years, different programs to improve the armed forces of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. The first major steps to establish a defense industry were made during the Second World War and they received a boost during the 1970s after the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
imposed an arms embargo due to human rights violation
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
s. The politics of privatization carried out during the 1990s virtually eliminated domestic military production, but many factories were reopened during the last years by both Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner , commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female president, and the second female president ever to serve...
administrations.
Army
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...
designed and built its first tank: the Nahuel
Nahuel (tank)
The "Nahuel" D.L. 43 tank was a medium tank developed in Argentina during World War II. It was the Argentine equivalent of the M4 Sherman and the M3 Grant American medium tanks.- Design :...
. Since then, the state-owned complex Fabricaciones Militares, has traditionally supplied the Army with most of its equipment from uniforms and helmets right through to the TAM (tank)
TAM (tank)
The Tanque Argentino Mediano , or TAM, is the main battle tank in service with the Argentine Army. Lacking the experience and resources to design a tank, the Argentine Ministry of Defense contracted German company Thyssen-Henschel...
family. Weapons such as the Browning pistol
Browning Hi-Power
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. It is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized...
, FN FAL
FN FAL
The Fusil Automatique Léger or FAL is a self-loading, selective fire battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de Herstal . During the Cold War it was adopted by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, with the notable exception of the United States...
, FN MAG
FN MAG
The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries, and it has been made under licence in countries such as Argentina, Egypt, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the...
etc. were licence built by the Domingo Matheu factory or developed locally as the FARA 83
FARA 83
The FARA 83 or FAA 81, "Argentine Automatic Rifle" was a rifle locally designed and developed for the Argentine Army in the 1980s.-Development:...
rifle. CITEFA
CITEFA
The Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of the Armed Forces , is an Argentine federal agency in charge of the research, development and homologation of armament....
still is the government agency responsible for the development of military technology having designed weapons such as the 155mm artillery gun
CITER 155mm L33 Gun
The 155mm L33 Argentine Model Gun is an Argentinian artillery field gun in service with the Argentine Army.-Development:...
, the Mathogo
Mathogo
The Mathogo is an Argentine wire-guided anti-tank missile developed by CITEFA to supplement and eventually replace the Argentine 105-mm recoilless rifles...
wire-guided anti-tank missile and the Pampero
Pampero MRL
The SLAM Pampero is an Argentinian multiple rocket launcher from Cold War and modern eras...
Multiple Launcher System in the past.
The 1990s, as with the rest of the national economy, saw a great reduction of state sponsored military programs; so the Army bought all kind of things such as the PASGT
Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops
Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops, sometimes abbreviated to PASGT, was a combat helmet and ballistic vest used by the American military from the mid 1980s until 2005, when the system was succeeded by the Lightweight Helmet, Modular Integrated Communications Helmet, and Interceptor body...
helmets on the open market. After the 2001 economic crisis, the government encouraged import substitution
Import substitution
Import substitution industrialization or "Import-substituting Industrialization" is a trade and economic policy that advocates replacing imports with domestic production. It is based on the premise that a country should attempt to reduce its foreign dependency through the local production of...
and local items are being produced again. A boost was given to the development of UAV vehicles such as the Lipan picture. The Argentine Army Aviation
Argentine Army Aviation
The Argentine Army Aviation is the army aviation branch of the Argentine Army...
Maintenance Battalion at Campo de Mayo
Campo de Mayo
Campo de Mayo is a military base located in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, northwest of Buenos Aires.Campo de Mayo covers an area of and is one of the most important military bases in Argentina, including Argentine Army's:...
begun the conversion of the UH-1H Huey fleet into the Huey II variant and the Army sponsored local builder Cicaré
Cicaré
Cicaré Helicópteros SA is an Argentine helicopter manufacturer founded by Augusto Cicaré in Buenos Aires in the 1970s to develop aircraft of his own design...
to build the CH-14 Aguilucho
Cicaré CH-14
-See also:-External links:* *...
scout helicopter. The Army has also recently developed the Gaucho
VLEGA Gaucho
The VLEGA Gaucho is a light general purpose 4x4 vehicle, capable of being transported by air . It was developed jointly by Argentina and Brazil in the 2000s for employment by their armies...
scout vehicle jointly with the Brazilian Army
Brazilian Army
The Brazilian Army is the land arm of the Brazilian Military. The Brazilian Army has fought in several international conflicts, mostly in South America and during the 19th century, such as the Brazilian War of Independence , Argentina-Brazil War , War of the Farrapos , Platine War , Uruguayan War ...
. The Combat Engineers Battalion 601 ( ) has also designed and built several models of water purification
Water purification
Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, materials, and biological contaminants from contaminated water. The goal is to produce water fit for a specific purpose...
plants which had been deployed as humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
to Bolivia, Peru, Haiti and Chile in recent years.
Navy
In 1930, the shipyard, AstarsaAstarsa
Astilleros Argentinos Río de La Plata S.A. was an argentinian shipyard. Its core business was built and repair of ships and locomotives. It also manufactured pipes, industrial machinery, and tractors...
, built the first aviso
Aviso
An aviso , a kind of dispatch boat or advice boat, survives particularly in the French navy, they are considered equivalent to the modern sloop....
s for the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
and the Río Santiago Shipyard
Río Santiago Shipyard
The Rio Santiago Shipyard is a shipyard situated in the city of Ensenada, province of Buenos Aires, at the shores of the Santiago River. It has been one of the major active and important shipyards in Latin America. Founded in 1953, it has realized diverse functions in the naval, industrial and...
has supplied ships since the 1950s including the tall school ship ARA Libertad
ARA Libertad (Q-2)
ARA Libertad is a tall ship which serves as a school ship in the Argentine Navy. She was built in the 1950s at the Río Santiago Shipyard near La Plata, Argentina...
, the two Muratore
ARA Murature (P-20)
Murature is a 900 ton World War II era Argentine navy warship, originally classified as minelayer and later as patrol boat. The vessel was named after José Luis Murature, Foreign Minister of Argentina from 1916-18. Murature was laid down in 1944 and commissioned in 1945...
patrol boats, the Azopardo frigate, the LST ARA Cabo San Antonio; and built the Type 42 class
Type 42 destroyer
The Type 42 or Sheffield class, are guided missile destroyers used by the British Royal Navy and the Argentine Navy. The first ship of the class was ordered in 1968 and launched in 1971, and today three ships remain active in the Royal Navy and one in the Argentinian Navy...
destroyer ARA Santisima Trinidad under license.
In the 1970s Tandanor
Tandanor
Tandanor is an Argentine worker-owned shipyard, and the nation's largest. Tandanor is involved in shipbuilding and ship repair and has facilities in Buenos Aires' port....
assembled two Type 209 submarine
Type 209 submarine
The Type 209 is a class of diesel-electric attack submarine developed exclusively for export in the late 1960s by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Germany...
s brought in parts from West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and in the 1980s six Espora class corvettes have been built at Rio Santiago.
A program to build four TR-1700 class submarine
TR-1700 class submarine
The TR-1700 is a class of diesel-electric patrol submarines built by Thyssen Nordseewerke for the Argentine Navy in the 1980s. These ships are the largest submarines built in Germany since World War II and are among the fastest diesel-electric submarines in the world.- Development :The original...
s in Buenos Aires was cancelled by the Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
administration in the 1990s when the Domecq Garcia shipyard was shut down having two hulls about half completed. With this specialized facility closed the Navy was forced to send the ARA Santa Cruz submarine to Brazil for her mid life upgrade. In 2003 the shipyard was reopened and the ARA San Juan complete her overhaul there video. In 2010, the government also announced that it started working with the indigenous reactor INVAP
INVAP
INVAP S.E. is an Argentine high-technology company dedicated to the design, integration, construction and delivery of high complexity equipment, plants and devices.-Background:...
's CAREM
CAREM
CAREM is an Argentine nuclear reactor designed by CNEA .- History :The reactor was first developed as a request of the Argentine Navy to power the TR-1700 submarine of German design. In 1984 it was presented publicly for the first time during an IAEA conference in Peru...
in order to transform one of the pending TR-1700 into a nuclear submarine
Nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor . The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" submarines are considerable: nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for...
and/or a surface vessel.
Navy's arsenals at Puerto Belgrano
Puerto Belgrano
Base Naval Puerto Belgrano is the largest naval base of the Argentine Navy, situated next to Punta Alta, near Bahía Blanca, about south of Buenos Aires...
perform maintenance of the fleet ships, for example the Rolls-Royce Tyne
Rolls-Royce Tyne
|-See also:...
turbines engines.
In March 2010, it was announced that the construction of the first of four 1,800 ton offshore patrol ships
Proyecto Patrulleros de Zona Marítima OPV
The Patrulleros de Zona Marítima are a series of offshore patrol vessels being built for the Navies of Chile, Argentina and Colombia.-History:...
would begin in August at Tandanor shipyard. The ships will be used to patrol the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone
Exclusive Economic Zone
Under the law of the sea, an exclusive economic zone is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, including production of energy from water and wind. It stretches from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical...
. In May 2010, Defense Minister Nilda Garre announced that the Navy would continue working on a system that would enable the launch of Exocet missiles from the Navy’s P3 Orion airplanes. In addition, the financing of the local development and construction of a coastal Naval defense system that may also be based on the use of Exocet missiles similar to the Excalibur system.
Air Force
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
: the Pulqui I. Its most famous designs are the IA-58 Pucará
FMA IA 58 Pucará
The FMA IA 58 Pucará is an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency aircraft. It is a low-wing two-turboprop-engined all-metal monoplane with retractable landing gear, manufactured by the Fábrica Militar de Aviones.-Development:...
and the IA-63 Pampa
FMA IA 63 Pampa
|-See also:-References:*Flores, Jackson, . "The Pampa...A Tutor with a Teutonic Flavour". Air International, February 1987, Vol 32 No. 2. Bromley, UK:Fine Scroll. ISSN 0306-5634. pp. 59—66, 90....
and has assembled under licence the T-34 Mentor
T-34 Mentor
The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is a propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston-engined. These were eventually succeeded by the upgraded T-34C...
, MS-760 Paris and the A-4AR Fightinghawk
A-4AR Fightinghawk
The Lockheed Martin A-4AR Fightinghawk is a major upgrade of the McDonnell Douglas A-4M Skyhawk attack aircraft developed for the Argentine Air Force which entered service in 1998...
. It also does maintenance for models such as the C-130 Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
.
From 1983, the FMA developed and type-approved a series of systems and weapons to be built locally known as the FAS series including RWR, aerial refueling
Aerial refueling
Aerial refueling, also called air refueling, in-flight refueling , air-to-air refueling or tanking, is the process of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight....
, cluster bombs etc.
In late 1980s, Quimar S.A. built the MQ-2 Bigua, a derivative of the Meteor Mirach 100
Galileo Mirach 150
-References:This article contains material that originally came from the web article by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.*...
remote piloted vehicle, which was tested from a IA-58 Pucara and in the 1990s the FAA unveiled the Nostromo Yarará UAV.
Rockets / Space
Since the 1950s, the Argentine Air ForceArgentine Air Force
The Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. , it had 14,606 military and 6,854 civilian staff.-History:...
(FAA) operated a rocket launch site at Chamical
Chamical
Chamical is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina.-References:...
Air Base, La Rioja province
La Rioja Province (Argentina)
La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca, Córdoba, San Luis and San Juan.-History:...
to perform high atmosphere studies. However after the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
( the military approved development of the Condor missile which was later canceled due to political pressure from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In 2009 they successfully tested the Gradicom rocket, whose booster was entirely developed by Argentine scientists and engineers. video for both military and civilian applications at the shooting range at Serrezuela, Cordoba. Currently, CONAE, the National Commission for Space Activities, is developing a multistage liquid propellant rocket called Tronador II to be used for satellite launching.
CITEFA
CITEFA
The Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of the Armed Forces , is an Argentine federal agency in charge of the research, development and homologation of armament....
has produced several air-to-surface missiles since late 1960s including the Albatros, the Martin Pescador
Martin Pescador MP-1000
The Martin Pescador MP-1000 was an Argentine air-to-surface missile developed by the CITEFA...
and the AS-25K
AS-25K
The AS-25K is an Argentine air-to-surface missile under development by the CITEFA in 2 versions: air-sea and air-land...
. In 2008 they refurbished the Aspide
Selenia Aspide
The Aspide is an Italian medium range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile produced by Selenia . It is provided with semi-active radar-homing seeker...
's missile engines in use in the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
and Matra Magic air-to-air missiles
The state-owned company INVAP
INVAP
INVAP S.E. is an Argentine high-technology company dedicated to the design, integration, construction and delivery of high complexity equipment, plants and devices.-Background:...
is also noted by its satellite series (although launched by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
) and in 2007 started to build indigenous 2D and 3D radars.
Electronics / Software
The three armed forces have their respective units within their organizations in charge of designing, developing and produced the software required. Examples in the Army included artillery control facilities and the SIMUPAZ a simulator used to train blue helmets. The main signalsMilitary communications
Historically, the first military communications had the form of sending/receiving simple signals . Respectively, the first distinctive tactics of military communications were called Signals, while units specializing in those tactics received the Signal Corps name...
unit, Batallon de Comunicaciones 601 has refurbished all the radio equipments, developed satellite-communication deployable units and digitally upgraded the RASIT radars in the Rastreador program. Examples in the Air Force includes the air traffic control center of indigenous design for the VYCEA
Grupo VYCEA, Argentine Air Force
Grupo VYCEA is the Spanish acronym for Grupo Vigilancia y Control del Espacio Aéreo . Grupo VYCEA is a group of the Argentine Air Force, headquartered at Parque San Martín, Merlo since 1952....
at Merlo
Merlo
Merlo may refer to:* Villa de Merlo, San Luis Province, Argentina* Merlo Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina* Merlo, Buenos Aires , Argentina...
and the upgraded of the AN/APG-66V2
AN/APG-66
The AN/APG-66 radar is a solid state medium range Pulse-doppler radar designed by Westinghouse for use in the F-16 Fighting Falcon and in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's C-550 Cessna Citation, US Navy P-3 Orion, and Piper PA-42 Cheyenne II's as well as the Small Aerostat Surveillance...
(ARG-1) radar for the A-4AR aircraft. The Navy uses its own systems for data links between their ships.
INVAP
INVAP
INVAP S.E. is an Argentine high-technology company dedicated to the design, integration, construction and delivery of high complexity equipment, plants and devices.-Background:...
developed an synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic-aperture radar is a form of radar whose defining characteristic is its use of relative motion between an antenna and its target region to provide distinctive long-term coherent-signal variations that are exploited to obtain finer spatial resolution than is possible with conventional...
to replaced the Bendix RDR-1500B on the maritime patrol
Maritime patrol
Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities....
aircraft Beechcraft Super King Air
Beechcraft Super King Air
The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
of the Argentine Naval Aviation
Argentine Naval Aviation
The Argentine Naval Aviation is the naval aviation branch of the Argentine Navy and one of its four operational commands...
Atomic energy
Argentina has an advanced nuclear programNuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, first building a research reactor
Research reactor
Research reactors are nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for electricity production, heat generation, or maritime propulsion.-Purpose:...
in 1957 and then Latin America's first on-line commercial reactor in 1974. Argentina developed its nuclear program without being overly dependent on foreign technology. Nuclear facilities with Argentine technology have been built in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. In 1983, the country admitted having the capability of producing weapons-grade uranium, a major step needed in assembling nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s. However, since then Argentina has pledged to use nuclear power only for peaceful purposes and has been very active in non-proliferation. In 1992, Argentina and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
created the Brazilian–Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials for the bilateral verification of the peaceful use of nuclear materials.
See also
- Ministry of Defense (Argentina)Ministry of Defense (Argentina)The Ministry of Defense of Argentina is a ministry of the national executive power that deals with everything related to the country national defense...
- Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic