A-4AR Fightinghawk

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A-4AR Fightinghawk
Type	Attack aircraft
Manufacturer	Lockheed Martin
Introduced	December 1997
Status	Active
Primary user	Argentine Air Force
Number built	36

The Lockheed Martin A-4AR Fightinghawk is a major upgrade of the A-4M Skyhawk combat aircraft specially developed for the Argentine Air Force.

1 Background
2 Production
3 Service
4 Accidents
5 Operators
6 External links

[edit] Background

The 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War took a great toll on the Argentine Air Force, which lost more than 80 aircraft. Due to the deteriorating national economic situation and political distrust upon the military (see Dirty War), the Air Force was denied the resources needed to replace the war losses.

Even worse, the military aid embargo imposed by the British after the war made that the only combat aircraft that the Air Force could get were 10 Mirage 5P transferred from the Peruvian Air Force, 19 Mirage IIICJ from Israel, veterans from the Six-Day War, and 2 Mirage IIIB trainers from the French Air Force.

In 1989, Carlos Menem was elected new President of Argentina and soon establish a pro United States foreign policy. Although the economical situation improved, the funds to get new combat aircraft like the Mirage 2000 were still not available. The Air Force made several attempts to get surplus aircraft such IAI Kfirs from Israel and A-7 Corsairs or F-16A Fighting Falcons from the United States.

It was in 1994, that the United States counteroffer, as the only option, to modernize 36 ex-USMC A-4M Skyhawks in a US$ 282M program that would be carried out by Lockheed Martin and include the privatization of the Fabrica Militar de Aviones (English: Military Aircraft Factory) now Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina SA.

The program was named Fightinghawk to resemblance its F-16 Fighting Falcon origin.

[edit] Production

Argentine Air Force technicians choose 32 A-4M and 4 TA-4F airframes from AMARC. The upgrade include:

Complete overhaul of airframe, wires and the Pratt & Whitney J52P-408A 11200 lbf engine
Ejection seat Douglas Escapac 1-G3
HGU-55/P helmet
Honeywell Normal Air-Garrett's OBOGS (On Board Oxygen Generation System)
Westinghouse/Northrop Grumman AN/APG-66V2 radar (known as ARG-1)
HOTAS controls and a 'glass' cockpit (3 large CRT screens)
Sextant Avionique/Thales Avionics SHUD
Litton/Northrop-Grumman LN-100G inertial navigation system
MIL-STD-1553B data bus
2 General Dynamics Information Systems AN/AYK-14 mission computers
Northrop Grumman AN/ALR-93 (V)1 Radar warning receiver
AN/ALQ-126B jammer
ALR-39 chaff/flare dispenser
IFF AN/APX-72

The contract estipulate that 18 airframes would be refurbished at the Lockheed-Martin Plant in Palmdale, California and the rest in Córdoba, Argentina, at the FMA.

At least 10 TA-4J and A-4F airframes for use as spare parts, 8 additional engines and a new A-4AR simulator were also delivered.

[edit] Service

The Fightinghawks received serials C-901 to C-936 in the Air Force. The first group arrived in a ferry flight from the United States on December 18, 1997 and the first "Argentine" A-4AR was roll out on August 3, 1998 at Cordoba. The last one, number 936, was delivered to the Air Force on March, 1999. Two aircraft (a one-seat and a two-seats) remain in the United States up the next year for weapons homologations.

All A-4AR were delivered to the 5th Air Brigade (V Brigada Aérea) at Villa Reynolds, San Luis Province where they replaced the Falklands/Malvinas veterans A-4B/C establishing two squadrons.

Soon were deployed in rotation manouvers along the country from Rio Gallegos in the cold south to Resistencia in the hot north where they intercept smuggler and drug trafficing airplanes.

On September 1998, just months after their arrival and again in April 2001, United States Air Force's F-16 visited their base for the joint exercises Southern Falcon, known as Aguila (Spanish:Eagle) in Argentina.

In 2004, they went abroad for the joint exercise Cruzex along with the Brazilian F-5 and Mirages, Venezuelan F-16s and French Air Force Mirage 2000s.

On November 2005 they were deployed to Tandil airbase to enforce a no-fly zone for the Mar del Plata Summit of the Americas and later meet Chilean Air Force Mirage Elkans, Brazilian Air Force AMXs and Uruguayan Air Force A-37 at Mendoza for the joint exercise Ceibo.

On July 2006 they were deployed to Cordoba province for the Mercosur's 30th Presidents Summit.

On August/September 2006 they went again to Brazil for the Cruzex III joint exercise with Brazil, Chile, France, Peru,Uruguay and Venezuela.

[edit] Accidents

As of February 2006, after near 10 years of service, two A-4AR have been lost:

July 6, 2005: near Justo Darac, San Luis Province, pilot Lt Horacio Martín Flores (29 years old), died.
August 24, 2005: near Río Cuarto, Cordoba, pilot ejected safely.