Russian Jets To Argentina: Vladimir Putin Offer Could Spark New War Over Falklands, London Fears

A proposed shipment of a dozen Russian Su-24 fighter jets to the Argentina air force could tip the strategic balance in the ongoing dispute over the British controlled Falklands, possibly leading to a new war over the islands known in Argentina as Las Malvinas.

London is fearful enough about the new ties between Buenos Aires and Moscow that the British Ministry of Defense ordered a review of the United Kingdom’s military options in the Falklands, to defend against another attempted Argentine takeover, according to U.K. media reports.

According to the report in the Daily Express newspaper Sunday, when Vladimir Putin visited Argentina in July, he opened doors for Argentina to send much-needed food supplies to Russia — supplies banned under international sanctions against Russia — in exchange for military weaponry.

Chief among those weapons, a dozen of the sophisticated Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jets, whose arrival will lead to a dangerous “real window of vulnerability” for the British forces now stationed in the Falklands, forces badly depleted by U.K. budget cuts.

The U.K. and Argentina fought a bloody, 74-day war after Argentina’s then dictator, Leopoldo Galtieri, sent a force of 60 troops to take the sparsely populated South Atlantic islands back from British rule. The Falklands’ inhabitants were then, as now, British citizens.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered British forces to take back the Falklands, leading to a conflict that killed 900 people and wounded 2,000 more, but one in which the British ultimately prevailed.

But Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner has recently been vocal in her views that Argentina should rule Las Malvinas. With the new Russian jets added to the Argentine air force, Britain may not be in a position to fend off a new Falklands invasion.

Britain maintains a force of about 1,200 troops stationed in the Falklands, along with four Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets of its own, similar to the Eurofighter Typhoon pictured below.

While the Eurofighter Typhoon is considered one of the world’s most powerful fighter jets, and should — on paper — be capable of defending against the relatively antiquated Su-24 fleet, according to the respected Jane’s Defense Weekly, “wars aren’t fought on paper” and the Russian jets “could pose a real problem for U.K. plans for the defense of the Falkland Islands.”

British defense officials fear that the jets arrival in Argentina, coming well before the U.K. deploys its new, 65,000-ton Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier in 2020, presents a dangerous opportunity for Argentina to catch the British defenses at less than full strength.

Great Britain has ruled the Falkland Islands since 1830, but for the first time, island dwellers there will soon see Russian jets flown by Argentine pilots on patrol over the Falklands capital of Port Stanley. Argentina first bought Russian aircraft in 2010 when it took delivery of two Mi17 assault helicopters for the Argentine air force.