Country Snapshot

Population: 38,740,807 (July 2003 est.) Size, comparable to U.S.: slightly less than three-tenths the size of the US Per Capita GDP, not adjusted for PPP (year): (est. 2002): $2,600 Ranking, Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index: 92 out of 133 Defense Expenditure as a percentage of GDP: 1.3% (FY2000) Size of armed forces: 71,000 (2001-2002) U.S. military personnel present: 15 (2003)

The military-to-military relationship between the United States and Argentina is very close, and has grown more cordial during the 1990s. Though in dollar terms Argentina is not a major aid recipient, cooperation and communication between the U.S. and Argentine defense establishments is frequent and takes place at all levels. U.S. officials have been closely advising the Argentine military’s ongoing modernization process, which involves participating more actively in international peacekeeping missions and purchasing more “modern” weapons and equipment.

Major Non-NATO Ally status

The centerpiece of the U.S.-Argentine military relationship is Argentina's status as the United States' only "Major Non-NATO Ally" (MNNA) in the Western Hemisphere. Though this status is largely symbolic, carrying only small benefits like priority access to Excess Defense Articles and weapons stockpiling privileges, Argentina’s neighbors -- particularly Chile -- have voiced their displeasure at what they perceive to be unequal treatment.

Frequent meetings and consultations between both countries' defense officials have covered plans to share intelligence and military information more systematically, to determine the types of equipment that Argentina’s armed forces need, and to broaden training and exchange programs. At a June 1999 meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Domínguez said his government hopes to “stress and deepen” the non-NATO ally relationship through combined military exercises and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) assistance to update the armed forces’ equipment.¹

In July 1998, the two countries signed a “master information exchange agreement” to share military research and development information. On that occasion Secretary Cohen indicated, “We're also working on some new agreements for the future and one that would allow us to exchange classified information. Another will authorize the mutual provision of supplies and services during peacekeeping operations.”²

Arms and equipment transfers

The United States transfers much arms and equipment with the stated purpose of helping Argentina’s military take on its new role as an international peacekeeping force. Meeting with Domínguez in December 1998, Cohen said the United States is working “to provide the equipment that will be helpful to Argentina in carrying out its peacekeeping operations around the world.”³

The State Department’s 2000 Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations maintains that Excess Defense Articles (EDA) for Argentina “would increase its inter-operability with U.S. and NATO forces, and continue to allow Argentina to participate in global peacekeeping activities.”⁴  Indeed, Argentina – whose MNNA status affords it priority access to EDA – led the hemisphere in EDA deliveries in 1998. Excess equipment shipments continued in 1999; a March 1999 press release from the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires noted the delivery of ninety-three combat vehicles through the EDA program valued at more than $20 million.⁵

In 1998, Argentina led the hemisphere in licenses for Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) of defense exports, and was fourth in Foreign Military Sales (FMS). State Department estimates project Argentina’s FMS agreements to increase steadily in 1999 and 2000. In 1998, the State Department Congressional Presentation notes, “the Argentine armed forces initiated procurement of almost 100 U.S.-manufactured armored vehicles to equip their peacekeeping forces. They also began the procurement of 34 HMM WVs [High Utility Multipurpose Vehicles, or ‘humvees’].”⁶

The FMS program is in the process of delivering thirty-nine A-4 AR lightweight attack aircraft that Argentina purchased in 1996. Eight were shipped from the United States, and the remainder are being finished at a Lockheed factory in Córdoba, Argentina. The A-4 program, Minister Domínguez stated in May 1998, “involves high technology on radars, planes, and Argentina has high expectations regarding the training of its pilots through the A-4 program.… it is a five year program and we understand that program will involve U.S. military equipment to increase our Armed Forces' operational capability.”⁷

Counternarcotics

A moderate amount of drugs transit Argentina en route from Bolivia, and -- though the United States government has urged the Argentine armed forces to play a greater counternarcotics role -- only Argentina’s federal and provincial police forces have anti-drug responsibilities. These include the Federal Police, the Gendarmería Nacional (border police), the National Customs Service, the National Air Police, and the National Coast Guard.⁸

A 1989 counternarcotics cooperation agreement with Argentina provided approximately $2.9 million in International Narcotics Control (INC) assistance through 1995. Programs continue today, using money committed during previous years. Of the $2.9 million, "just over $2 million was used to supply equipment, with the balance used for training programs for Argentine law enforcement personnel."⁹

INC Latin America regional funding also provides information technology equipment "to better coordinate police counternarcotics efforts." Support from U.S. agencies, particularly the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), assisted the creation of a "Northern Border Task Force" for counternarcotics operations in the frontier region with Bolivia. The task force has twenty members, a mix of provincial police and Gendarmería. U.S. assistance for the task force includes equipment, vehicles and training. U.S. Customs and Coast Guard personnel also train Argentine law enforcement agencies to inspect both port and river cargo.¹⁰

Other training

Argentina’s military is the hemisphere’s third-largest recipient of International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding. Thirty-two percent of Argentina's IMET funding paid for "expanded IMET" courses.¹¹ The following description of the IMET program for Argentina comes from the U.S. State Department's Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations for Fiscal Year 1999:

Participation in International Military Education and Training (IMET) courses improves the capabilities of Argentina’s armed forces as they seek to modernize at a time of great budget stringency. These courses also provide increased inter-operability with U.S. and NATO forces, which is increasingly important as Argentina expands its worldwide peacekeeping activities. IMET also plays a key role in the development of civilian defense experts who can administer effectively the defense establishment.¹²

Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are the only two Western Hemisphere countries whose militaries will receive assistance from the State Department's Enhanced International Peacekeeping Capabilities (EIPC) initiative. The EIPC, a new program which will pay for training and non-lethal equipment for duties related to international peacekeeping missions, will be funded through a $5 million Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grant, to be shared by eight countries worldwide.¹³

Argentina also receives an undetermined amount of equipment and training through the State Department’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) program. This assistance, according to the 1999 Congressional Presentation, involves “training programs and visits by U.S. counter-terrorism and anti-crime specialists.”¹⁴

Argentine students make up 2 to 3 percent of the student body at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) and the Inter-American Air Forces Academy (IAAFA). Nine Argentine students attended the Defense Department’s Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS) in 1998.¹⁵

Argentine troops participate in several U.S.-organized multilateral exercises, including Cabanas, Fuerzas Aliadas Chile, Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarian, Fuerzas Aliadas Peacekeeping, and UNITAS.¹⁶ U.S. Special Forces planned three JCET exercises in Argentina in 1998, though one was cancelled. The other two, which covered a host of subjects ranging from human rights to marksmanship, were carried out with Army and Gendarmería units.¹⁷

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Sources:

¹ United States, Department of Defense, News Briefing, Presenter: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Media Availability with Minister of Defense Jorge Domínguez, Argentine Republic, June 10, 1999 <http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun1999/t06141999_t0610arg.html>.

² United States, Department of Defense, News Briefing, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, with Minister of Defense Jorge Domínguez, Argentine Republic, July 22, 1998 <http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul1998/t07221998_t722arge.html>.

³ United States, Department of Defense, Press Availability in Cartagena, Colombia with Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and Minister of Defense Jorge Domínguez, Argentine Republic, December 2, 1998 <http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec1998/t12141998_t202arge.html>.

⁴ United States, Department of State, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2000, (Washington: Department of State: March 1999): 848.

⁵ United States, Embassy of the United States in Argentina, “Donó Hoy 93 Vehículos de Combate al Ejército Argentino,” Press Release, March 31, 1999 <http://www.usia.gov/abtusia/posts/AR1/wwwh1058.html>.

⁶ Department of State, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2000 849.

⁷ United States, Department of Defense, Joint Press Conference at Círculo Militar, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and Minister of Defense Jorge Domínguez, Argentine Republic, May 23, 1998 <http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May1998/t05281998_t523buen.html>.

⁸ U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998, (Washington: Department of State: February 1999): <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1998_narc_report/samer98.html>.

⁹ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.

¹⁰ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1997, (Washington: Department of State: March 1998): <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1997_narc_report/index.html>.

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1996, (Washington: Department of State: March 1997): <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1997_narc_report/index.html>.

¹¹ United States, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, memo in response to congressional inquiry, Washington, March 5, 1999.

¹² United States, Department of State, Office of Resources, Plans and Policy, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 1999 (Washington: March 1998): 400.

¹³ Department of State, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2000 1118-9.

¹⁴ Department of State, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 1999 400.

¹⁵ United States, Department of Defense, National Defense University, Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, 1998 Annual Report (Washington, 1999): 9.

¹⁶ United States Southern Command, J34, Exercise Program Quick-View, (U.S. Southern Command: October 13, 1998).

¹⁷ United States, Defense Department, "Report on Training of Special Operations Forces for the Period Ending September 30, 1998," Washington, April 1, 1999.