First of all, the increased spending on aviation in Argentina is a good thing for aviation. Unfortunately, there are other priorities in our country. But , let's leave it as aviation, yes, it's a good thing for our Air Force.
Then about the FMA or LMAASA.
As you pointed a source, which I think is quite partial, I wanted to give you another look on it. I also thought you might be doing some reaserch on it or put the theme on the table.
FMA (Fábrica Militar de Aviones or in English, Airplanes Military Factory) was the state factory, located in Córdoba, where our airplanes were overhauled, and some of them, desgined too, until 1995, when it was privatised to Lockheed Martin (LM), like many of other state-companies at the time. There were many designs by FMA that were not produced, but some others were.
Here is a list of the desgined planes, and some of the ones in service (wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_Aircraft_ArgentinaI thought the article you suggested is somewhat partial, as I think, because it points out "good" things that have happened since LM took over, but it doesn't state, for example, how many aircraft have been designed since then ( what is equal to 0, zero).
Let's say I am not personally comfortable with this idea, which rather bothers me as for the "what COULD have happened IF....".
Project SAIA 90 is one of them... But I also have to admit corruption and everything else doesn't help
As you said, Argentina is not a country that outstands for aircraft production. However, we have developed some aircraft that fit to our necessities, and help, at the same time, develop technological skills, at the same time we become somewhat more independent on this fields. IAe 46 Ranquel is an example of it (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.Ae._46_Ranquel), as well as the cargo plane IA 50 Guaranà II (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FMA_IA_50_Guaran%C3%AD_II), and the ones more common to you, IA-58 Pucará and IA-63 Pampa.
LM, as a producer of aircraft itself, may not want to have competitors. This makes sense to me when we asked for the F-16 quite some years ago, and it was denied. As an option, they modernised our A-4s, taking them to the A-4AR level, which is obviously still far from an F-16. Maybe the SAIA 90 would have fitted in this space left open.
SAIA 90 project (
http://www.hangardigital.com.ar/saia90.html) Sorry, but when I try to translate it, it appears in Spanish, so it's of no help. I leave that to you.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FMA_SAIA_90#Possible_armament)
Dassault and MiG and whoever it was that took over would have done the same: look for their profit at expenses of our own developement. I am not against LM directly, but against the privatisation of the factory for the reasons I think I explained above.
There was, I hope there still is, a plan for recovering the FMA (making it a state company again) and possibly start cooperating with Brazil's state company (EMBRAER) to develop aeronautical skills in the Latin American territory.
Maybe I overreacted when I saw the article you linked about the FMA, but, yes, its privatisation is a touchy theme for us Argentine aviation lovers. Just think how would you feel if there was any possibility of seeing some "home-made" aircraft flying for your country, possibly other countries too! Well, I don't expect you to understand me at this point, cause your country does have airplanes all arround the world, and they are among the best ones.
The thought of the possibility of that happening if the SAIA 90 would have succedeed is rather uncomfortable.
I hope to have given a wider look to the issue, but if I didn't success in doing so, it would be a pleasure to answer any further question
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