The appearance of Australis’ Serie Aeronaval #40 and a recent minor scandal originating in Navy Arsenal Comandante Espora (ARCE) provided us with a sterling opportunity to take a peek at Argentina’s fleet of Super Etendard naval fighters, the last of their type attempting to remain in active duty…
A long and winding road
In addition to providing a revised and updated type history (see “SUE & SEM”: Jorge Núñez Padín revisits four decades of Super Etendard in Argentine Navy service), the monograph forecasts that the five ex-French Navy Super Etendard Modernisé (SEM) are likely to take up aircraft codes 3-A-221 through 3-A-225, while we assume they are likely to take up Navy serial numbers 0887 through 0890.
Even though they maintain their original French colour schemes and serials, they already wear the Argentine flag on their rudders and two have received the original (1956) 2nd Fighter and Attack Naval Air Squadron (EA32) badge on their noses’ left side.
In an as yet uncertain future, the aircraft are expected to be repainted in their ultimate French scheme (two-tone matt low reflectance gray blue, French standards 5430/2274 and /2204) or in a comparative Argentine-adapted livery (two-tone semi-matt gray, Federal Standards 26176 and 26307).
Since the aircraft arrived in Comandante Espora in mid-May 2019, getting them and EA32 back into flying conditions has been a protracted process dealing with an endless list of political, diplomatic, economical, technical, logistic, training and (last but definitely not the least) pandemic obstacles which have some optimistic observers forecasting an initial operational status since late 2020…
The SEM project remains under close scrutiny from interest groups which are ready to cry wolf and criticize the purchase or its protracted restoration process; but government support appears to be solid and funding is slowly being made available for the purchase or repair of rotables, local or foreign rework and testing of aircraft systems as well as training of flying, weapons systems and maintenance crews.
Regardless of Argentine Navy futile attempts to keep the process under wraps, a plethore of news, photos and videos continue to flow through the Internet showing progress of the SEM rework and the whereabouts of its SUE predecessors.
In the latest (and most bizarre) event, pictures of SUE and SEM airframes stored at ARCE were published on social media while a crossfit competition was being held at this purportedly “media and spotters off-limits location” on Saturday, April 28th…
Farewell SUE?
Ever since the original Super Etendards (locally referred to as “SUE”) flew for the last time in the early 2010s, rumours about their return to flying condition appear to be loosing traction as the limited resources available to revive EA32 promise to be more profitable if invested in the SEM machines rather than on their original counterpars.
According to Pista 18 fleet research and several other public sources, three of the original 14 aircraft were lost in accidents, a further 9 had been grounded at the very least three years when the squadron stood down in early 2013 (one of them now ostensibly alloted for preservation at the Navy Aviation Musem) and only two may be reasonably able to resume flying if and when spare parts are made available to complete their overhauls…
Whatever the outcome of the process, Navy top brass is said to be determined to recover its Super Etendard strike capability and keep it fit for at least a decade (the expected lifetime of the five aircraft and nearly 700,000 spare parts purchased from France) by maintaining a two-to-four aircraft line-up flying an estimated 360 hours per year.
Will all these facts mark the end of “good’ole SUE’s” career in Argentine Navy markings? Shall we see at least one SEM flying before the end of this year? Two good questions which I hope will find an answer before we open our 2023 calendars…
Acknowledgements: Ariel Peral, Carlos Abella, Charlie Dacunda, Jorge Núñez, Hernán Casciani and Mariano Sciaroni contributed to this reporte with their social media posts. Other references: Aeromáquina, Armada Argentina, Bahía Cross Gym, Clarín, Defensa (EDEFA), Fuerzas de Defensa Argentinas, Google Translate, Infobae, Infodefensa, La Nueva Provincia, Ministerio de Defensa (Argentina), Scramble, Poder Naval, Puerto Bahía Blanca, Todo Noticias, Visión Estratégica, Wikipedia and Zona Militar.
