The United States will sell Black Hawk helicopters to Argentina in a multi-million pound deal that comes only weeks after Donald Trump’s hints he would not aid Britain if the Falkland Islands were invaded.
The U.S State Department confirmed on Thursday the possible foreign military sale of UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters and their related equipment to the South American country at an estimated cost of £103million ($140million).
The sale, which will give Buenos Aires four helicopters, emerges just weeks after the US President implied he would not offer help to the UK if Argentina invaded the Falklands again.
The US has traditionally taken a neutral position regarding the Falklands, but the President recently suggested a review on this stance in what some claimed was a pressure tactic to prompt more UK military cooperation.
Trump jibed that Britain is not ‘doing well’ and had failed to ‘help’ with the military campaign against Iran.
Speaking on GB News earlier this month, Trump said he clearly remembered the 1982 Falklands War when questioned on if he would ‘come to the aid’ of the UK in the event of another invasion.
He said: ‘I was there when they had the first war, that was a long time ago… you comported yourself very well, took it back very shortly. But it is a long way away.
‘So, your country’s not doing well. Don’t forget you get a big percentage of your oil from the Strait of Hormuz and you weren’t there to help me.
‘Your country was not there to help me.’
Announcing the Black Hawk deal with Argentina, a US official said the sale will support America’s ‘foreign policy goals’ and ‘national security objectives’. This will be done, they said, by: ‘Improving the security of a major non-Nato ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in South America.
‘The proposed sale will improve Argentina’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing the additional capacity to conduct border security, counter-transnational crime, and humanitarian assistance/disaster response.’
