Faced with a new edition of the Multinational Exercise UNITAS, scheduled to take place in the first half of September in the Pacific Ocean with Chile as the host, the Argentine Navy still does not have approval from the National Congress due to a lack of initiative and interest from the Ministry of Defense. If not approved, the force would add another absence in one of the most important naval exercises of the year, following three consecutive editions without deploying any national assets for the occasion.
The Multinational Exercise UNITAS 2024 represents a great opportunity for the Argentine Navy to train alongside more than 10 participating nations from the American continent. This LXV edition of the combined naval activity stands out for offering the chance to work with allied navies in fleet-level operations across various operational scenarios, fostering the learning of international techniques and standards for participating crews and personnel, while also promoting the building of mutual trust mechanisms required for joint operations.
However, as mentioned, this is an activity that the Argentine Navy has not been able to take advantage of in the last three UNITAS editions. In 2021, a similar issue to the current one hindered any opportunity to deploy assets. The Chamber of Deputies, which received the Bill for the corresponding authorization of foreign troops’ entry and national troops’ exit from Argentine territory on April 22, failed to address the issue in time for the exercise starting in September. As a result, the destroyer ARA Sarandí and the patrol vessel ARA Bouchard could not depart for Peruvian waters to participate in the activities. In 2022 and 2023, the absence was due to the United Kingdom sending ships to participate, leading the Argentine government to reject the Navy’s deployment outright, not wanting to train with a nation that illegally occupies national territory.
It is also worth mentioning the impending expiration of the period stipulated by Law 27.735, which deals with the authorization of “the entry of foreign troops into national territory and the exit of national forces from it,” and specifies a period from September 1, 2023, to August 31, 2024. In this document, the executive had proposed the possibility for the Argentine Armed Forces to participate in a total of eight international exercises, including the aforementioned UNITAS 2023. Therefore, it is imperative that the Ministry of Defense, led by Luis Petri, begins to push harder to obtain this necessary approval for the proper functioning of the Armed Forces regarding their participation in combined exercises, both domestically and abroad, for the new period about to begin.
Current uncertainty remains as the “Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines” Law, also known as the “Omnibus Law,” which was sent earlier this year by the executive branch, is not yet approved by the Senate and is still in the negotiation process. Its Article 345 envisaged that, from September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2025, the Argentine Armed Forces could participate in a total of 13 exercises: I “INTEGRACIÓN,” II “CRUZEX,” III “ARANDÚ,” IV “ACRUX,” V “ATLASUR,” VI “OPERACIÓN FORMOSA,” VII “FRATERNO,” VIII “GALAPEX,” IX “INALAF,” X “PASSEX,” XI “SIFOREX,” XII “UNITAS,” and XIII “VIEKAREN.” In addition, it proposed the declaration of a defense emergency, precisely to grant the president the ability to expedite these types of authorization processes; something that was negotiated and later withdrawn at the opposition’s request, as the Executive was assuming powers inherent to the Legislative Branch.
Image credits: Argentine Navy
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