{"id":10407,"date":"2025-02-24T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T09:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gacetaeronautica.com\/gaceta\/wp-102\/?p=10407"},"modified":"2025-02-25T13:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T12:40:14","slug":"data-mining-for-argentine-viper-fleet-identities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gacetaeronautica.com\/gaceta\/wp-102\/data-mining-for-argentine-viper-fleet-identities\/","title":{"rendered":"Data mining for Argentine Viper identities…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, visit to Tandil air base for the “F-16 Weapons System Reception Ceremony”<\/strong> acquired last year for the Argentine Air Force<\/strong> (FAA) provides an ideal time frame for our first complete forecast of the the 24 Royal Danish Air Force<\/strong> (RDAF) airframes that will start joining the South American nation’s VI Air Brigade<\/strong> (VI Br A\u00e9) fleet later this year.<\/p>\n

\"ResearchOfficial information is definitely unavailable, in part due to Argentina declaring the acquisition a “military secret”<\/strong>; but mostly because its Danish supplier seemingly intends to keep aircraft deliveries to Ukraine<\/strong> absolutely under wraps (and both deals are being supplied from the same pool).<\/p>\n

However, comparing, fusing and analyzing publicly available information<\/strong> from a qualified list of resources and authors, we’re reasonably certain that 22 airframes are “safe bets” for delivery to Argentina, while the remaining two will come from a pool of nine least expected aircraft.<\/p>\n

\"ET210<\/a>
Even though the former ET-210 was delivered as a ground instruction airframe to Tandil air base late last year, its visually striking tail was retained by RDAF to commemorate its participation in Joint Strike Fighter Test Support duties. Identity of the replacement tail source remains unknown (photo: Milfly Collection, overhead Avn\u00f8, circa 2019).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Methodic guess work<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Research started out by obtaining an inventory of 44 F-16A\/B mid-life updated airframes current with the RDAF in early 2024.<\/p>\n

Then, we tried to identify aircraft which may have (or have already) been supplied to Ukraine, this turning up a total of 12 serials in said condition (an unexpected byproduct of our research).<\/p>\n

Next, the eight F-16B<\/strong> two-seaters proposed by Marcelo Cimino in Full Aviaci\u00f3n in January last year were revalidated after two aircraft were handed over to Ukraine and only eight remained available… easy piecy!<\/p>\n

\"ET-199<\/a>
Carrying AMD pod, four GBU-39 SDB glide bombs, extra 370-gallon Sargent Fletcher tanks and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, F-16B ET-199 was the first RDAF to wear full Argentine Air Force markings at the acquisition contract signing ceremony. Oddly enough, Ukranian president Volodimir Zelensky posed on board the very same aircraft during a visit to Skrydstrup air base on 08\/2023… (photo: Forsvarsministeriet, 04\/2024)<\/em>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Lastly, an attempt was made to guess the twelve F-16A single seaters<\/strong> destined for Argentina, and we did it by sorting all remaining aircraft in two groups with different perceived<\/span> probabilities to cross the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

The most likely one (50% probability) is made up by 14 aircraft wearing Have Glass V colour scheme or coming from the most modern aircraft batch accepted by RDAF in the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n

\"FAA<\/a>
Click to enlarge chart showing detailed results (source: Pista 18).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Have Glass V<\/strong> is a ferromagnetic paint scheme covering most of the aircraft fuselage (but the dielectric radome) with a distinctive dark gray (FS36170) finish which purportedly reduces the fighter’s radar cross section from 5.0 m\u00b2 to 1.2 m\u00b2.<\/p>\n

The remaining lot (25% probability) is made up by nine aircraft which fit none of the above pre-requisites, but could nonetheless be selected if their general condition is much better than some of our preferred choices.<\/p>\n

\"Brothers<\/a>
Like brothers in arms, two RDAF F-16As approach Skrydstrup air base illustrating their present and future commonalities and differences. On the backgrond, E-699 wears the original paint scheme worn when flown away to the Ukranian Air Force in 2024. On the foreground, one of our most solid candidates to transfer to the FAA, E-605 illustrates the distinctive features of Have Glass V livery (photo Palle N\u00f8rby Christensen\/Erik Frikke Collection, 03\/05\/2024).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

As marked at the top and justified in our speculative approach to two thirds of the fleet, this is not a definitive report but “research in progress”<\/strong>: Additional information will be incorporated into this chronicle as and when it becomes available.<\/p>\n

Feel free to leave your comments below if you have remarks or corrections to our research: We may contact you privately to validate your feedback and eventually incorporate it in this report.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Devoid of identity and markings, an F-16B is roaded into the Aalborg air base paint shop, most likely before getting its Have Glass V color scheme. Local sources believe the aircraft is ET-198, one of eight (plus one ground instruction) two-seaters destined for Argentina (photo: Kurt Saxkj\u00e6r, 02\/13\/2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

References<\/strong>: Air History Net, Full Aviaci\u00f3n, F-16 Net, Key Aero, The Aviationist, The War Zone and Scramble were consulted by the author. Per Thorup Pedersen<\/strong> and Andr\u00e9s Rangugni<\/strong> provided valuable guidance during our research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, visit to Tandil air base for the “F-16 Weapons System Reception Ceremony” acquired last year for the Argentine Air Force (FAA) provides an ideal time frame for our first complete forecast of the the 24 Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) airframes that will start joining the South American nation’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,236,68],"class_list":["post-10407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence","tag-aeromilitaria-argentina","tag-aeromilitaria-denmark","tag-f-16-fighting-falcon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gacetaeronautica.com\/gaceta\/wp-102\/wp-content\/uploads\/3025\/02\/2025-02-13-F-16BM-Aalborg_Kurt-Saxkjaer-Milfly_Collection_edited.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1JKRl-2HR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21,"url":"https:\/\/www.gacetaeronautica.com\/gaceta\/wp-102\/air-force-first-battle-anniversary-coming-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":10407,"position":0},"title":"Argentine Air Force first battle anniversary and air show coming up!","author":"Carlos Ay","date":"Sunday 4 April 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"STOP PRESS! 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