The Argentine Air Force Decommissions The A-4AR Fighting Hawk.

Buenos Aires; May 2026: Brigadier General Gustavo Valverde, Chief of the General Staff of the Argentine Air Force , announced this weekend the decommissioning of the A-4AR Fighting Hawk fighter-bombers, which belonged to the V Air Brigade. This concludes a period of almost sixty years of operational history for the A-4 Skyhawk family in the country, dating back to 1966.

The resources available to the institution must be redirected to the new F-16M weapons system, currently being incorporated into service. The primary reason for the retirement is the onerous logistical and maintenance costs, which are increasing daily to sustain the system’s operational readiness. It’s worth noting that the A-4ARs have been grounded for two years, following the tragic accidents that claimed the lives of two captains and led to the aircraft being grounded.

A vital era for the nation is coming to close: the arrival in 1966 of the first A-4B Skyhawks, followed later by the A-4Cs, and in the late nineties, these A-4AR Fighting Hawks, which are now departing almost silently. A golden age for the Argentine Air Force is ending, a time of constant deployments throughout the country, of highly trained and dedicated pilots who gave their all in the Falklands War, and of incredible efforts by their mechanics and specialists to keep them flying and operational during times of budget crisis, which was practically always.

Their proponents say this is as far as it goes, but a new era begins, one that receives the historical and moral legacy of these small plans that, along with their pilots, had taken the world for a surprise.

With the retirement of these Argentine aircraft, the Brazilian Navy becomes the last military institution on the planet to fly a handful of these veteran fighter jets, in addition to others operated by private companies dedicated to teaching air combat procedures.

Team Maverick.