page_title: Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic
section_title: Present
hierarchical_section_title: Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic / History / Present
caption_attribution_description: Español: Granaderos a Caballo San Martín, en un acto protocolar por la llegada del primer ministro ruso Mikhail Fradkov a la Argentina. Tomada en la plaza San Martín, barrio de Retiro, ciudad autónoma de Buenos Aires.
context_page_description: The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the Army, Navy and Air Force, there are two security forces, controlled by the Ministry of Security, which can be mobilized in occasion of an armed conflict: the National Gendarmerie, a gendarmerie used to guard borders and places of strategic importance; and the Naval Prefecture, a coast guard used to protect internal major rivers and maritime territory.
  Traditionally, Argentina maintains close defense cooperation and military-supply relationships with the United States and to a lesser extent, with Israel, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Belarus, Italy, and Russia.
context_section_description: The modern Argentine Armed Forces are committed to international peacekeeping under United Nations mandates, humanitarian aid on emergencies relief and support the country's continuous presence at Antarctica.
  Democratic governments since 1983 straightened the military budget and did not approve any large scale equipment purchases.  Argentina military spending is one of the lowest of South America and as of 2010, its 0.9% of GDP only exceeds Suriname
  Since the 2000s, the Argentine defense industry was relaunched after the politics of privatization carried out during the 1990s by Carlos Menem administration virtually eliminated all.
  In 2003, for the first time, the Argentine Navy (classified as major non-NATO ally) interoperated with a United States Navy battlegroup when destroyer ARA Sarandí (D-13) joined the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group and Destroyer Squadron 18 as a part of Exercise Solid Step during their tour in the Mediterranean Sea.
  On June 12, 2006, President Néstor Kirchner brought into force the Defense Law, which had been passed in 1988 as a means to modernize the doctrine of the armed forces and define their role, though successive governments had failed to put it into effect. The law states that the armed forces will only be used against foreign aggression, and reduces the powers of the heads of the armed services, centralizing whole operational and acquisitions decisions under the authority of the Armed Forces Joint General Staff (Spanish: Estado Mayor Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas – EMC ) emphasizing Jointness.
  In 2007, an agreement for cooperation in peace operations was signed with France.
  A combined Argentinian-Chilean force for future United Nations Mandates was created. Named Cruz del Sur (English: Southern Cross), the new force began assembly in 2008 with its headquarters alternating between the two countries each year.
  In 2009, UNASUR, the South America countries union, created the CDS ( Spanish: Consejo de Defensa Sudamericano (South American Defence council) in order to promote cooperation and transparency between their armed forces
  As of 2011, they perform with Chile the PARACACH (Patrulla de Rescate Antártica Combinada Argentina-Chile, Argentine Chilean Antarctic combined search and rescue patrol) with support from the German Space Agency which provided satellite imagery
caption: Granaderos, the cavalry unit that, among other feats, followed San Martín across the Andes in 1817 to liberate Chile and Peru
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