MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Sunday, May 17th 2026 - 13:53 UTC
Regional One Inc. won the bid with an ERJ-140LR for $4.085M and 33,516 flight hours, despite cannibalized parts, corrosion, leaks, and four fewer seats than the only other bidder's aircraft.
The Argentine Air Force (FAA) acquired in 2025 an Embraer ERJ-140LR aircraft for USD 4.085 million, nearly double the price the same provider had quoted for an equivalent and better-conditioned plane to a private client just months later, according to an investigation published on Saturday by the newspaper Clarín. The transaction, awarded to the US firm Regional One Inc. in a tender resolved in record time and challenged by a competitor, displays irregularities in the design of the bidding terms, the technical evaluation, and the payment circuit, and forms part, according to the publication, of a pattern replicated in at least three other aircraft purchases by the force since 2021.
The international public tender was initiated on 6 May 2025 at the request of Commodore Pedro Rolando Largel, head of the aerial material maintenance department, an operational position that does not contemplate defining transport needs for the first air brigade. The budget was set at USD 3.9 million, just below the USD 4 million threshold that allows direct authorization without involvement from the Ministry of Defense. The tender was published on 30 May with a two-week window to submit offers, a period that multiple aeronautical sector operators consulted by Clarín described as insufficient to prepare a proposal without prior information.
