page_title: Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard
section_title: Argentina
hierarchical_section_title: Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard / Operational history / Argentina
caption_attribution_description: Argentine Navy Super Etendard (notice Atlantic Conveyor killmark)
context_page_description: The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard is a French carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft designed by Dassault-Breguet for service with the French Navy.
  The aircraft is an advanced development of the Étendard IVM, which it replaced. The Super Étendard first flew in October 1974 and entered French service in June 1978. French Super Étendards have served in several conflicts such as the Kosovo war, the war in Afghanistan and the military intervention in Libya.
  The Super Étendard was also operated by Iraq and Argentina, which both deployed the aircraft during wartime. Argentina's use of the Super Étendard and the Exocet missile during the 1982 Falklands War led to the aircraft gaining considerable popular recognition. The Super Étendard was used by Iraq to attack oil tankers and merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf during the Iraq-Iran War. In French service, the Super Étendard was replaced by the Dassault Rafale in 2016.
context_section_description: The Argentine Naval Aviation decided to buy 14 Super Étendards in 1979 after the United States put an arms embargo in place, due to the Dirty War and refused to supply spare parts for Argentinas fleet of A-4Q Skyhawks. Between August and November 1981, five Super Étendards and five anti-ship sea-skimming Exocet missiles were shipped to Argentina. The Super Étendards, armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles played a key role in the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982. The 2nd Naval Squadron was stationed at the Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego naval air base; during the conflict.  The threat posed to British naval forces led to the planning of Operation Mikado and other proposed infiltration missions to raid the airbase, aiming to destroy the Super Étendards to prevent their use. A total of four Super Étendards were operational during the conflict.
  A first attempt to attack the British fleet was made on 2 May 1982, but this was abandoned due to in-flight-refuelling problems. On 4 May, two Super Étendards, guided by a Lockheed P-2H Neptune, each launched one Exocet at the British destroyer HMS Sheffield, with one missile crippling Sheffield. On 25 May, another attack by two Super Étendards resulted in two missiles hitting the merchant ship Atlantic Conveyor, which was carrying several helicopters and other supplies to the front line. The Exocets that struck Atlantic Conveyor had been inadvertently redirected by decoy chaff deployed as a defensive measure by other ships; Both Sheffield and Atlantic Conveyor sank whilst under tow some days later following these Exocet strikes.
  On May 30 two Super Étendards, one carrying Argentinas last remaining Exocet, escorted by four A-4C Skyhawks each with two 500lb bombs, took off to attack the carrier HMS Invincible.  The missile was shot down by a Sea Dart fired by HMS Exeter.
  Following the end of the conflict, by 1984 Argentina had received all the 14 Super Étendards ordered, and Exocets with which to arm them. Super Étendards performed qualifications on the aircraft carrier ARA 25 de Mayo until the ship's final retirement.  Since 1993, Argentine pilots have practised on board the neighbouring Brazilian Navy's aircraft carrier São Paulo. Touch-and-go landing exercises were also common on US Navy carriers during Gringo-Gaucho manoeuvres and joint exercises.
  In 2009, an agreement was signed between Argentina and France to upgrade Argentina's remaining fleet of Super Étendards. An earlier proposal to acquire former French Naval Super Étendards was rejected due to high levels of accumulated flight hours; instead equipment and hardware would be removed from retiring French airframes and installed into Argentine aircraft, effectively upgrading them to the Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM) standard. By March 2014, while the Argentine Navy continued to seek the upgrade kits for 10 of its 11 remaining Super Étendards; this ambition appears to have been complicated by several factors, France has been non-committal regarding the sought sale; critically, political developments between France and the UK may potentially allow the UK to obstruct the supply of military equipment to Argentina such as the upgrade kits and the Exocet missile.
  In 2017 five Super Étendard Modernisé were purchased from France to bolster the fleet at a cost of €12.5 million, along with a simulator, eight spare engines, and a large batch of spares and tooling. However, while these aircraft were delivered in 2019, as of 2020 they still await the delivery of key spare parts and may not be in operational service for a further two years.
caption: During the 1982 Falklands War, the Argentine Super Étendards were used as a launch platform for Exocet anti-ship missiles
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