The United States will provide Argentina with US$40 million for “defense modernization,” the U.S. Embassy announced on Thursday. The funding will come through what is known as Foreign Military Financing (FMF), a security assistance grant provided to certain partner countries. This is the first time Argentina will receive U.S. FMF since 2003. 

“FMF enables Argentina to purchase U.S. defense articles, training, and services via grant assistance and enhances interoperability with U.S. forces,” the embassy statement said, adding that part of this funding will support Argentina’s recent purchase of 24 F16 fighter jets from Denmark. 

The jets, which cost 2.1 billion kroner (approximately US$300 million), were manufactured in the United States. No official date has been scheduled for their transfer.

The announcement comes a day after Defense Minister Petri presented a letter of intent requesting Argentina join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a “global partner.”  

Argentina has been a “major non-NATO ally” since 1998, meaning the country has strategic relationships with the U.S. Armed Forces while not being a full NATO member. The global partner or “partner across the globe” status is reserved for countries that want to cooperate with NATO but are restricted from full membership due to treaty guidelines that state that only European nations can be invited to fully join.

Ever since coming into office, President Milei has stated that his administration intended to pursue closer relationships with Western countries. In early April, Milei met with U.S. Southern Command General Laura Richardson in Ushuaia and vowed to increase its “strategic alliance” with the United States in order to better defend Argentina’s sovereignty. 

The president also said that Argentina had a “special affinity” with the United States because the two nations are “part of the Western tradition,” adding that Argentina has “sadly” been drifting away from these values for a century. “We are once again embracing these ideas because we have watched with alarm what happens when the West turns its back on them.”