Presented two new aircraft for the Air Force

The Minister of Defense, Jorge Taiana, headed this Monday at the 1st El Palomar Air Brigade the reception ceremony for the fifth Saab 340 aircraft and fourth Beechcraft TC-12B Hurontwo aircraft recently incorporated into the Argentine Air Force.

This acquisition, which will contribute to increasing the frequency of development flights of Líneas Aéreas del Estado (Lade) and will allow the opening of new air routes, such as the Jorge Newbery-Rosario-Reconquista airport, was carried out with contributions from the National Defense Fund (Fondef).

“We are carrying out these two incorporations to reconnect the country, because Argentina has an extensive territory, with entire regions with difficult connectivity mechanisms and we do it through aviation and with Lade, which has an increasingly intense and increasingly required activity“Tana said.

The Minister of Defense led the ceremony from the El Palomar platform together with the head of the Argentine Air Force, Brigadier General Xavier Julián Isaac.

Also present at the event were the Secretary of International Affairs for Defense, Francisco Cafiero; the Director of Migrations, Florencia Carignano; the mayor of the Santa Fe city of Reconquista, Amadeo Vallejos; the national deputy Agustina Propato; and the military chiefs Juan Martín Paleo (Head of Joint Staff of the Armed Forces) and Julio Horacio Guardia (Navy).

SRegarding the operational possibilities of Lade, Taiana highlighted that the Executive Power in recent years has expanded its air routesamong them “the one that we are inaugurating to the north of Santa Fe”, he marked, and also maintained that the company provides a service of “connection between the continental territory of Argentina and the large island of Tierra del Fuego” which is key to ” the breaking of the isolation.

Taiana highlighted the importance of Fondef and said that this instrument allows “step by step to fulfill a great task” that consists of “the recovery, modernization and incorporation of capacities in a sustained manner over time” so that the armed forces “are in conditions, well-equipped and with adequate weapons” for the purposes of guarding sovereignty.

Along the same lines, he added: “Do not doubt that wherever we are needed, we will be; we will be with Lade and we will be with the presence of the armed forces to control and monitor our sovereignty in the north, in the south, in the Atlantic, in Antarctica, throughout our territory”.

For his part, Brigadier Isaac valued the incorporation of the Saab 340 aircraft and the Beechcraft TC-12B as part of the “vocation to recover the capabilities of the Air Force to put it back into everything it can deploy.”

“In these small steps that we are taking, this is seen, because we have fundamental tools for this to be fulfilled,” he remarked, adding: “We have a fund (by Fondef) that supports us, we have a political decision that also drives and we are committed”.

And when referring to the activity that the two planes will maintain, he explained that they are incorporated “into the inventory of the Air Force” for the purposes of “Give greater personnel transport capacity and put the Air Force where it needs to be, across the country.”

The acquisition of a Saab 340 was fulfilled with the objective of increasing efficiency in the management of the operational transport capacities of the I Air Brigade, which in turn will allow the provision of development flights for Lade, it was reported.

After the purchase of this aircraft, as of Monday, March 13 The route that will connect the Jorge Newbery airport, in the City of Buenos Aires, with the cities of Rosario and Reconquista, in Santa Fe will be opened.

Lade’s new route, it was reported, will have “three blocks of weekly flights every 15 days”, to take place on Mondays between Aeroparque Jorge Newbery and Reconquista; on Tuesdays, with the Reconquista-Rosario-Aeroparque route; and finally on Wednesdays with the Reconquista-Aeroparque route.

On the other hand, the incorporation of the Saab 340 and Beechcraft TC-12B aircraft occurs within the framework of the reassignment of the DHC-6 Twin Otter weapons systems to simultaneously fulfill operational tasks and Lade flights in Patagonia. .

Faced with the new missions established for the DHC-6, the Air Force carried out the first course for transport pilots in the II Air Brigade with Beechcraft TC-12B aircraft.

The Beechcraft TC-12B “Huron” weapons system joined the II Paraná Air Brigade in 2001replacing the IA-50 Guaraní II, a nationally manufactured light transport aircraft that operated for more than 40 years.

With this aircraft, the Procedure Standardization Course for Transport Aviators (Cepat) is carried out, in charge of the training of new Air Force aviators, according to the Defense Ministry through a statement.

In addition, due to their great versatility, the Beechcraft TC-12B “allows them to satisfy the passenger and cargo transportation requirements required by the State, in addition to being prepared to contribute to community support tasks, such as disaster assistance, health emergencies and aeromedical evacuation”, detailed from the ministry.

As for the technical specifications, their engines have 850 horsepower, with a maximum fuel capacity of 3,690 pounds, and can reach an operational speed of 245 knots. With a maximum takeoff weight of 6,213 kilos, they can carry up to eight passengers, with a flight range of 5 and a half hours.

As for the Saab 340B, it is a twin-turbo propeller medium passenger transport aircraft, which has a capacity of up to 34 seats. The Air Force uses it for the transport of passengers, troops, air supply, search and rescue (SAR).