Argentine defense industry The Argentine defense industry has developed over the years , different programs to improve the armed forces of Argentina . The first major steps to establish a defense industry were made during the Second World War and they received a boost during the 1970s after the United States imposed an arms embargo due to human rights violation s . The politics of privatization carried out during the 1990s virtually eliminated domestic military production , but many factories were reopened during the last years . Army . In 1945 , the Argentine Army designed and built its first tank : the Nahuel ; and the first jeep : Ñandú . Since then , the state - owned complex " Fabricaciones Militares " , has traditionally supplied the Army with most of its equipment from uniforms and helmets right through to the TAM ( tank ) family . Weapons such as the Browning pistol , FN FAL , FN MAG etc . were licence built by the " Domingo Matheu " factory or developed locally as the FARA 83 rifle . CITEFA still is the government agency responsible for the development of military technology having designed weapons such as the 155mm artillery gun , the Mathogo wire - guided anti - tank missile and the Pampero Multiple Launcher System in the past . The 1990s , as with the rest of the national economy , saw a great reduction of state sponsored military programs ; so the Army bought all kind of things such as the PASGT helmets on the open market . After the 2001 economic crisis , the government encouraged import substitution and local items are being produced again . A boost was given to the development of UAV vehicles such as the " Lipán " . The Argentine Army Aviation Maintenance Battalion at Campo de Mayo begun the conversion of the UH - 1H Huey fleet into the Huey II variant and the Army sponsored local builder Cicaré to build the CH - 14 Aguilucho scout helicopter . The Army has also recently developed the " Gaucho " general purpose vehicle jointly with the Brazilian Army . The Combat Engineer s Battalion 601 ( ) has also designed and built several models of water purification plants which had been deployed as humanitarian aid to Bolivia , Peru , Haiti and Chile in recent years . Navy . In 1930 , the shipyard , Astarsa , built the first aviso s for the Argentine Navy and the Río Santiago Shipyard has supplied ships since the 1950s including the tall school ship ARA " Libertad " , the two Murature patrol boats , the " Azopardo " frigate , the LST ARA " Cabo San Antonio " ; and built the Type 42 class destroyer ARA " Santisima Trinidad " under license . In the 1970s Tandanor assembled two Type 209 submarine s brought in parts from West Germany and in the 1980s six Espora class corvette s have been built at Rio Santiago . A program to build four TR - 1700 class submarine s in Buenos Aires was cancelled by the Carlos Menem administration in the 1990s when the " Domecq Garcia " shipyard was shut down having two hulls about half completed . With this specialized facility closed the Navy was forced to send the ARA " Santa Cruz " submarine to Brazil for her mid life upgrade . In 2003 the shipyard was reopened and the ARA " San Juan " complete her overhaul there . In 2010 , the government also announced that it started working with the indigenous reactor INVAP ' s CAREM in order to transform one of the pending TR - 1700 into a nuclear submarine and / or a surface vessel . Navy ' s arsenals at Puerto Belgrano perform maintenance of the fleet ships , for example the Rolls - Royce Tyne turbines engines . In March 2010 , it was announced that the construction of the first of four 1 , 800 ton offshore patrol ships would begin in August at Tandanor shipyard . The ships will be used to patrol the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone . In May 2010 , Defense Minister Nilda Garre announced that the Navy would continue working on a system that would enable the launch of Exocet missiles from the Navy ’ s P3 Orion airplanes . In addition , the financing of the local development and construction of a coastal Naval defense system that may also be based on the use of Exocet missiles similar to the Excalibur system . Air Force . In 1927 , the Fabrica Militar de Aviones was established , which in 1947 developed and built the first jet combat aircraft of Latin America : the Pulqui I . Its most famous designs are the IA - 58 Pucará and the IA - 63 Pampa and has assembled under licence the T - 34 Mentor , MS - 760 Paris and the A - 4AR Fightinghawk . It also does maintenance for models such as the C - 130 Hercules . From 1983 , the FMA developed and type - approved a series of systems and weapons to be built locally known as the FAS series including RWR , aerial refueling , cluster bombs etc . In late 1980s , Quimar S . A . built the MQ - 2 Bigua , a derivative of the Meteor Mirach 100 remote piloted vehicle , which was tested from an IA - 58 Pucara and in the 1990s the FAA unveiled the Nostromo Yarará ( Nostromo Defensa ) and the 2000s AeroDreams Strix ( AeroDreams ) UAV . Rockets / Space . Since the 1950s , the Argentine Air Force ( FAA ) operated a rocket launch site at Chamical Air Base , La Rioja province to perform high atmosphere studies . However after the Falklands War ( the military approved development of the " Condor " missile which was later canceled due to political pressure from the United States . In 2009 they successfully tested the Gradicom rocket , whose booster was entirely developed by Argentine scientists and engineers . for both military and civilian applications at the shooting range at Serrezuela , Cordoba . Currently , CONAE , the National Commission for Space Activities , is developing a multistage liquid propellant rocket called Tronador II to be used for satellite launching . CITEFA has produced several air - to - surface missiles since late 1960s including the Albatros , the Martin Pescador and the AS - 25K . In 2008 they refurbished the Aspide ' s missile engines in use in the Argentine Navy and Matra Magic air - to - air missiles . The state - owned company INVAP is also noted by its satellite series ( although launched by NASA ) and in 2007 started to build indigenous 2D and 3D radars . Electronics / Software . The three armed forces have their respective units within their organizations in charge of designing , developing and produced the software required . Examples in the Army included artillery control facilities and the " SIMUPAZ " a simulator used to train blue helmets . The main signals unit , " Batallon de Comunicaciones 601 " has refurbished all the radio equipment , developed satellite - communication deployable units and digitally upgraded the RASIT radars in the " Rastreador " program . Examples in the Air Force includes the air traffic control center of indigenous design for the VYCEA at Merlo and the upgraded of the AN / APG - 66V2 ( ARG - 1 ) radar for the A - 4AR aircraft . The Navy uses its own systems for data links between their ships . INVAP developed an synthetic aperture radar to replace the Bendix RDR - 1500B on the maritime patrol aircraft Beechcraft Super King Air of the Argentine Naval Aviation Atomic energy . Argentina has an advanced nuclear program , first building a research reactor in 1957 and then Latin America ' s first on - line commercial reactor in 1974 . Argentina developed its nuclear program without being overly dependent on foreign technology . Nuclear facilities with Argentine technology have been built in Peru , Algeria , Australia and Egypt . In 1983 , the country admitted having the capability of producing weapons - grade uranium , a major step needed in assembling nuclear weapon s . However , since then Argentina has pledged to use nuclear power only for peaceful purposes and has been very active in non - proliferation . In 1992 , Argentina and Brazil created the Brazilian – Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials for the bilateral verification of the peaceful use of nuclear materials .