+dtmdragon 2,704 Posted February 29, 2016 (edited) Intriguing story of the Argentine Navy’s attempt to acquire ex Israeli A-4E Ahit towards the end of the Falklands War. I will post the link to the full story (via Google translate) but basically after losing three out of four A-4Q Skyhawks during an attack on British Warships in the Falklands war the Argentine Navy tried to clandestinely acquire 14 Israeli A-4E Ahit aircraft. Knowing the US would never give approval for the sale the Argentine Navy secretly negotiated with Israeli officials through an Israeli- Australian businessman. The operation was given the code name ‘Goliath’ and would end up lasting until 1986. To try and get around the issue of US approval a front company in Panama called Sygma Sales International was used to make the purchase. Israeli hesitantly agreed to the sale but made it conditional on US approval but it would be up to Sygma Sales to negotiate it with the US directly but in the mean time a contract was signed and $86 Million USD was paid from Argentina to Israel. Unfortunately for Argentina the US State Department now become aware of the proposed sale and completely vetoed it. To add insult to injury Israel refused to refund the $86 million claiming that US approval was the responsibility of Sygma Sales and they had competed their end of the deal. After negotiations in 1983 another contract was signed between Israel and Argentina. This time 12 A-4E Ahit plus spares and some weapons for $53 million USD. However once again it was done without US approval. A further contract including modernisation of the Ahit's was signed between the Argentine Navy and Ebit in 1984 and named, rather ironically, project ‘HOPE’. Negotiations continued but the US stood firm in its position and ultimately the project was cancelled in 1986 and the Argentinean Navy A-4E ‘Aguila’ forgotten forever. Negotiation to recover the money took seven years with Argentina ultimately losing $36 million in total. https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=4&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.perfil.com/mobile/%3Fnota%3D/ediciones/2011/7/edicion_586/contenidos/noticia_0004.html&usg=ALkJrhjwF8HBxddHEa7EFs3oz8g6Z0lApg Fortunately through the magic of SF2 and Nyghtfall's A-4 templates we can see what the A-4E 'Aguila' (Ahit/ Skyhawk) would have looked like in Argentine Naval Aviation Service... Edited February 29, 2016 by dtmdragon 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Nyghtfall 2,154 Posted February 29, 2016 Pretty interesting story, never heard of it before. And nice work too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nesher 628 Posted February 29, 2016 thanks for sharing.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fallenphoenix1986 603 Posted February 29, 2016 News to me as well, pretty interesting. Craig Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stratos 3,192 Posted February 29, 2016 Cool story! thanks for sharing it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Menrva 4,201 Posted February 29, 2016 Interesting! Thanks for sharing the news! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeanba 1,920 Posted February 29, 2016 Nice story, great skins ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RUSTYMORLEY 162 Posted February 29, 2016 Great story dtmdragon and great screenshots. Thanks for posting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
