With ever-aging fighters, Argentina is desperate to receive new aircraft and it seems set to receive 24 old F-16s.
Light combat aircraft of Chile and South America
Photo: InsectWorld l Shutterstock
Not all combat aircraft are fourth-generation multirole fighters like the F-16, Gripen, and Su-30. South American air forces operate a number of light combat aircraft, although these are typically better suited for insurgencies and low-threat environments. Chile only operates 10 Northrop F-5s in this category.
Selected South American Air Forces:
Light combat aircraft:
Argentina:
24x A-4 Fightinghawk; 10x IA 63 Pampa
Brazil:
46x AMX-A/T-1; 30x A-29 Super Tucano; 42x Northrop F-5EM;
Chile:
10x Northrop F-5
Colombia:
24x EMB 314 Super Tucano
Peru:
20x Cessna A-37 Dragonfly
Venezuela:
6x Northrop F-5A
Photo:Â A.PAES l Shutterstock
Argentina and Brazil have modified or built much of their light combat power (e.g., the A-29 Super Tucano was built by Embraer in Brazil). Brazil operates by far the largest number of the continent’s light combat aircraft. Notably, Peru is listed as still operating twenty old Cessna A-37 Dragonflies.
Related 5 Unique Features Of The Embraer A-29 Super Tucano
The type is currently operated by 16 air forces worldwide.
Other notable combat aircraft enablers of South America
Aerial tankers, electronic warfare platforms, and AWACS are important enablers (among many other important enablers) for fighter jet effectiveness. Chile also does reasonably well here, as it received a pair of E-3D Sentry AWACS aircraft from the United Kingdom in 2022. The Sentries will provide them with significant capabilities in this area (E-3 Sentries are what the US Air Force continues to rely on). Only Brazil is listed as having AWACS capabilities thanks to its home-grown Embraer ERJ-145 platform.
Selected South American Air Forces:
AWACS:
Aerial tankers:
Electronic Warfare:
Argentina:
0
2x KC-130 Hercules
1x Learjet 35
Brazil:
5x ERJ-145
2x KC-130 Hercules
0
Chile:
2x E-3D Sentry
3x KC-130 Hercules; 3x KC-135 Stratotankers
0
Colombia:
0
1x 767 MMTT
6x King Air 350 (incl. Army)
Peru:
0
2x KC-130 Hercules
0
Venezuela:
0
1x Boeing 707
1x Merlin IV/Metro
Chile apparently excels on the continent for aerial tankers, with three KC-130 Hercules and three KC-135 Stratotankers. Even though Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest country, it apparently only has two KC-130 Hercules tankers – although it also has a single A330 MRTT (KC-30) on order.
Photo: Airbus
Latin American air forces also possess various reconnaissance aircraft in modest numbers and some related assets. Various Latin American countries have helicopters with attack capabilities, but those are outside the scope of this article.
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Publish date : 2024-08-09 01:00:00
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