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Chilean Air Force - Modernization

With the widespread boycott of the military regime following the 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende, Chile found many traditional sources of equipment closed. United States arms exports to Chile were formally terminated in 1976 after the adoption of the Kennedy Amendment in 1974. With the return of democracy in 1990, the Aylwin government assured the United States that it would continued to prosecute those responsible for the assassination of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier, an opponent of the military government, and his assistant, United States citizen Ronnie Moffit, in Washington in 1976. As a result of these assurances the embargo was lifted, and United States arms sales to Chile resumed.

The Mirage 50 and Northrop F-5E/F squadrons of the Chilean Air Force were modernized with more advanced avionics and weapons systems. According to Air Force plans, 46 British Hawker Hunters have been replaced by 25 Mirage M-5M ordered from Belgium and scheduled for delivery starting in March 1995. However, in fact, 10 Hawker Hunters were still in service with the 8th Air Force Group. The age and maintenance costs of these units were of concern. Thus, the Air Force is expected to be in the market for 16 to 18 aircraft, with 2 or 3 of those ordered as two-seaters.

The Air Force contracted with IAI of Israel to work on its Boeing 707 CONDOR early warning system. IAI is also working on two other 707s for in-flight refueling. ENAER worked on the Air Force's Cessna T-37 B/C, which have begun showing signs of stress. The Air Force currently flies four C-130Bs and two C-130Hs. These units are not enough to meet the needs of the Armed Forces, so the Air Force was seen as in the market for additional C-130s or the alternative CN-235.

The institution’s modernization process seeks to build a modern, powerful Air Force to meet the demands that this concept and its specific strategy make upon the country. Two essential factors need to be combined in order to keep the Air Force’s strength current. These are technological evolution and financial resources. Technological innovation requires periodic modification and ultimately replacement of air materials. The financial resources required to do so must be shared with the other needs of society, so replacing combat aircraft is based on completion of its life cycle, staggering these replacements over the years. This procedure seeks to prevent two or more weapons systems from becoming obsolete at the same time in a given period, a circumstance that, in addition to adversely affecting the Air Force’s combat capabilities, would also place a heavy financial burden on the country’s resources by having to cope with replacing two or more systems simultaneously during the same period.

A modern platform has a high degree of availability because technology makes for lower operating costs, increases the length of time between breakdowns and has more efficient pieces of equipment that range from large capacity engines to structures made of compound materials that suffer less fatigue and deformations. Together with the above, the Air Force’s modernization process must enable it to be prepared to cope with conventional and non-conventional threats in accordance with its assigned mission.

In order to fulfill its declared aims, the institution’s modernization process is geared towards achieving the following objectives:

1. Structure a force that meets the requirements of modern warfare and efficiently supports National Defense Policy.
2. Develop and consolidate capabilities to achieve better integration with multinational forces designed to make and keep the peace.
3. Modernize and adapt systems of administration, logistics, personnel and finances, so that they expedite management with a view to achieving better training of the force.
4. Strengthen the institution’s organizational culture, so as to give each of its members a sense of belonging and of adhering to the Air Force’s basic values.
5. Structure a system of full education, which duly provides the institution with the personnel that it needs, in terms of both quality and quantity, and that is compatible with the level of modernization of its operational systems.

The Institution’s modernization plans are drawn from the Chilean Air Force’s Objectives Plan for this ten-year period, called “Bicentenary.” This plan sets the objectives and capabilities that must be achieved in each area in order to implement the institution’s strategic vision and be constantly prepared and ready to perform its permanent mission and missions of international cooperation as determined by the State. The Objectives Plan is based on the vision of the Air Force as an expression of the State in the national air space. It stipulates that the Air Force, as a permanent institution of the Republic, is geared towards cooperating for the common good. The level of operational capability that the Air Force seeks to acquire through the “Bicentenary” plan helps strengthen the security that society needs for its development. This is because that level of operational capability is a dissuasive capability, which has a decisive influence on maintaining the peace, which is the country’s ultimate aim.

By 2012 the seemingly never-ending fighter modernisation process in Chile was geared up for a fourth competition in less than two decades. The Chilean Air Force had 16 Northrop F-5 Tiger IIs that were due to be retired after 2015. Contractors were prepared for the biggest procurement prize in South America, second only to Brazil's endless F-X2 acquisition program for at least 36 fighters.

Lockheed Martin was Chile's preferred supplier in the previous three rounds. The FACh selected the F-16 Block 50 in 2000 for a 10-aircraft order. That was followed in 2004 by a batch of 18 second-hand F-16A/B mid-life update Block 20s from the Netherlands, and in 2008 by a second batch of another 18 F-16A/Bs. In addition, the FACh ordered 12 Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucanos.