Argentine Secretary of International Defense Affairs, Francisco Cafiero, accompanied by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Juan Martín Paleo, attended the XIII meeting of the Brazil-Argentina Joint Working Group.
The meetings discussed military exchanges that promote and strengthen bilateral relations and consolidate cooperation between the two countries.
Cafiero explained that “to the working group, which already has ten agreements, including defense industry, training, and cyber defense, two more mechanisms have been added: first, the Guarani 6×6 project, an armored vehicle used by the Brazilian Army, which we also want to use in our army, and second, the creation of a binational joint staff to coordinate and plan military activities between Argentina and Brazil based on common challenges.”
Representatives of the Ministry of Defense have repeatedly publicly endorsed the vehicle manufactured by Iveco.
Other topics have included the exchange of technologies to prevent natural disasters, the possibility of transferring 105-mm howitzers, the exchange of experience and modernization of the Tucano aircraft, the exchange of information on companies that manufacture defense products and their certification/approval systems, experience with offset procedures, procedural rules for contracts on international industrial cooperation projects, the implementation of cybernetic operations, defense education and training, and the commercialization of Brazilian Navy projects and products.
SUBMARINE TRANSFER
During the conference, the possibility of transferring the German-made Type 209 submarine was discussed, noting that since the sinking of ARA San Juan and the decommissioning of ARA Salta and ARA Santa Cruz, the Argentine submarine force does not have operational submarines for the first time in almost 90 years.