The decision by Argentina’s new President Javier Milei to buy 24 F-16 military jets should be seen as nothing more than posturing and an attempt to divert the attention of his voters from his country’s financial woes, according to an expert.
Mr Milei, the right-wing populist who took office in December, stated multiple times during his electoral campaign that he wants the Falkland Islands – a British overseas territory known in Argentina as Las Malvinas – to be annexed to his nation.
The future acquisition of F-16s may raise concern Buenos Aires is preparing once again to make a move against the territory.
But Professor Ian Shields OBE, an international relations expert at Cambridge University, believes it is highly unlikely history will repeat itself on the Falklands.
Speaking about the announced deal between Argentina and the White House, set to speed up the acquisition of the F-16s, he told Express.co.uk: “I think this is playing to Argentina’s domestic policy, him showing he is the man in charge, that he is bringing Argentina forward and getting state of the art military technology. It raises Argentina’s profile.
“Although, I would also add that given the wider financial challenges facing the country at present, I am a little surprised he is choosing to put military hardware so high up his list of priorities.”
Mr Milei, Professor Shields added, has adopted a strongman stance, which reminds him of General Leopoldo Galtieri – the leader of the military junta in charge in Argentina during the Falklands War.
He said: “I may be going too far here, but I can’t help but draw parallels in my own mind between this strongman approach and the Galtieri approach.
“I think this is military posturing, which is always a useful tool for averting public opinion away from domestic issues.”
Nevertheless, Professor Shields, a retired RAF officer who spent four months on the Falkland Islands in 1985 on an air-to-air tanker, believes there is no chance Mr Milei will follow in the footsteps of General Galtieri when it comes to attacking the islands.
He said: “I think it’s posturing. The British defence in the Falklands at the time of the invasion in 1982 was symbolic, a small number of Royal Marines.
“Now, there are state-of-the-art radars there scanning the skies, there is a full international size airport, there is a very large permanent military presence down there, and I think the other big change is that Britain would be more aware of what’s happening in Argentina, and perhaps in terms of intelligence keep a close eye on the country than they would in 1982 when they took their eye off the ball.”
Prompted to say whether he believed there could be a new invasion of the Falklands during Mr Milei’s years in power, Professor Shields added: “I can’t dismiss an invasion because of the issues within domestic policy. None of us saw the war in 1982, it came as a shock. But do I think we are going to see a repeat of history? To be quite honest, no I don’t.”
The Falklands War was a 10-week conflict sparked by Argentina after its troops mounted amphibious landings in the spring of 1982.
Despite claiming Argentina’s sovereignty of “Las Malvinas” is “non-negotiable”, Mr Milei suggested before his accession to office he would not support a new aggression.
He said: “Now we have to see how we are going to get them back. It is clear that the war option is not a solution. We had a war – that we lost – and now we have to make every effort to recover the islands through diplomatic channels.”
