Abuelo Hercules: Latin American Programs
Oct 15, 2014 16:36 UTCLatin American air forces operate a wide variety of equipment, but American aircraft still play a prominent role. Some are new, but as one might expect in a region with constrained military budgets, many air forces are flying aging legacies of past purchases. They must be replaced at some point, and Brazil’s industry is making steady inroads on that basis, selling EMB-314 Super Tucanos to replace American OA-37 Dragonflys, and gearing up to replace American C-130 Hercules aircraft with Embraer’s KC-390.
Even with longer-term replacements afoot, however, the mathematics of force numbers and budget numbers continue to make upgrades, life extension programs, and second-hand transfers attractive. Recent announcements of C-130 projects in Argentina and Peru show that dynamic in action.