Iván Duque’s government reportedly invests more than $ 4,000 million to renew the country’s fighter jet

Colombia would be at a complete disadvantage in terms of air combat power in the face of an external threat which for Semana magazine is very real and comes from Venezuela. its renowned ally Russia and for the belligerence of the Daniel Ortega regime in Nicaragua, as well as for the alleged interference of Cuba in the country.

According to a confidential document from Colombian military forces obtained by these media, the country could not be effective against the air power possessed by the sister country.

“Colombia is at a strategic disadvantage against the most representative air superiority fleet in the region with the Russian Su-30 mk 2 (or Sukhoi fighter-bombers) that Venezuela has.; fleet which has experienced a significant recovery, going from one aircraft available in 2017 to 12 in February 2021. Likewise, thanks to Russian support, it is estimated that by the end of this year, 16 aircraft will be ready, consolidates as the country with air superiority in the region, ”Week quoted in the Military Forces document.

For this reason, they have examined in this publication, the government of Iván Duque will close negotiations in the coming months for the acquisition of 24 new latest generation fighter jets, which allow the nation to be protected against possible external threats.

According to Semana, the United States would be the country providing the aircraft and in In the coming days, the notification that the US Congress would allow Colombia to acquire the planes for up to $ 4.5 billion would be released.

That way, that country’s State Department would give the Duque government a free pass to you can buy the F-16s they offer and their weapon system. The millionaire investment would be paid in a period of between 7 and 10 years, and this would accelerate thanks to the good relations between the House of Nariño and the White House, they assured Semana.

In the weekly, they reported that In this way, it will be possible to replace the 23 Israeli Kfirs currently available to the Air Force, the only one that still uses them in the world, and that they have completed more than 30 years of use, so in 2023 they will be obsolete, among other reasons because these planes have not been manufactured since 1986, so there are additional costs to obtain their spare parts and to be able to carry out the corresponding maintenance.

According to data provided by military forces to the magazine, uAn hour to fly a Kfir costs over $ 16,000, whereas with a state-of-the-art aircraft, that number would drop to $ 9,000.

In the post, they recalled that President Duque is also said to have advanced talks with Sweden, France and Spain to modernize air defense. Also, because the country needs higher capacity radars.

In the magazine, they argued that Although the modernization of air defense was proposed by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, in 2012 it was not carried out because in addition to budget cuts, political decisions in the peace process influenced with the extinct FARC.

This would have raised concerns in the Colombian military forces because we would be on the verge of losing the deterrent, defensive and offensive capacity in the face of external aggression.

“Colombia cannot afford to lose this defensive and dissuasive capacity, because the economic cost of not having it could be much higher in the face of aggression. and not being able to protect the nation’s strategic assets, ”Semana quoted in the reserved document.

Semana recalled that in 2019 the Chavista deputy, Pedro Carreño, threatened the country by assuring that faced with an American invasion of Venezuela, the Sukhoï would be in Bogotá in 11 seconds, because among the advantages of these Russian planes are their flight range and their high speed of up to 2350 kilometers per hour.

However, they indicated that although this Chavista statement is exaggerated, a Sukhoi would take half an hour to reach the Colombian capital’s airspace, considering that it is 1,400 kilometers from Caracas to Bogotá. .