A national magazine described them as the "queens of the seas", the last two of the eight Maestrale-class frigates (123 metres, 3,000 tonnes) from the 1980s that the Argentinian Ministry of Defence is negotiating with Rome to purchase. Predominantly equipped with underwater weapons, the frigates built by Fincantieri were the backbone of submarine hunting in the Mediterranean for a good 40 years.

"Grecale" and "Libeccio" were decommissioned last year and could still provide good service in South America for a few years after a refit - their mid-life conversion was also twenty years ago. Due to their age, they are not exactly cheap to maintain, but thanks to their still good armament and the sea target FK Otomat Teseo Mk2, they are at least better equipped than the somewhat smaller MEKO 360 frigates of about the same age with their Exocet MM40. However, as the same magazine justifies the purchase, these ships will not be able to offer Argentina a convincing defence against a feared Third World War!

But for Argentina's real problem, the large international - mainly Chinese - fishing fleets on the edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone, which mercilessly siphon off the stocks of whitefish and squid where the krill rise from the deep sea, they would be a convincing means of presence. They can easily reach 30 knots at top speed, with 6,000 nautical miles of endurance at 15 knots.

Incidentally, Argentina has decommissioned the last five Super Etendards, which were delivered by France in 1981, a year before the Falklands War, and sank two Royal Navy ships in combat. They had not flown for years because there were simply no spare parts available.

The five Super Etendards Modernisés of the Marine Nationale purchased in Paris in 2018 have also not been able to fly so far because the UK is not known to deliver the old Martin Baker Mk4A ejection seat to Argentina - and France no longer manufactures parts for this old jet anyway. There has also been no "flying" sign of life from the nine Etendards delivered after the Falklands War for some time. Not needed for the next world war.