Argentina buys 24 of Denmark's aging F-16 fighter jets

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Argentina's defense minister signed a deal Tuesday worth about 2.1 billion kroner ($300 million) to buy 24 of Denmark’s aging F-16 fighter jets.

Denmark is getting new F-35 aircraft, and the sale of the nearly 40-year-old F-16s that "have been thoroughly maintained and technologically updated” means that Argentina will “become part of the global F-16 family,” said the Danish defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen.

Denmark has 30 operative F-16s. An unspecified number of the remaining jets have been promised to Ukraine as part of a donation.

No date for the F-16s to be handed over to Argentina was announced. They are expected to be transferred in the coming years.

Denmark has ordered 27 F-35A fighter jets, and the switch to them is taking place at the end of 2025.

In March, Poulsen visited Argentina and signed a letter of intent to sell some of Denmark’s F-16 jets. Tuesday's deal was signed at a Danish air force base.