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Argentina nationalizes U.S.-owned defense plant(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Buenos Aires, Mar 17 (EFE).- Argentina will re-nationalize a military-aircraft factory that was acquired by U.S. defense titan Lockheed Martin in the 1990s, President Cristina Fernandez said Tuesday. "This is about recovering the technological development that Argentina assumes it has and which was dismantled," she said, asserting the need for further "strategic measures to recover Argentine jobs using Argentine hands and brainpower." "This decision joins others such as the one we made recovering our flag carrier (Aerolineas Argentinas) and signifies restoring what had been torn down" by the privatizations of the 1990s, the president said at an event in the central city of Cordoba. The nationalization of the airplane plant, located just outside Cordoba, has been under consideration since mid-2007, when the Defense Ministry began seeking tie-ups with regional aircraft manufacturers such as Brazilian giant Embraer and Chile's Enaer. Buenos Aires reached agreement with Lockheed Martin in November 2007 on a possible deal for re-nationalization of the factory after an external audit to determine the value of the assets. Sources in the aeronautics sector say the government will have to pay around $27 million to recover the Cordoba plant, assuming that the Argentine Congress approves the step. The aircraft factory, which employs some 1,100 workers, was privatized during the 1989-1999 administration of President Carlos Menem, when Lockheed Martin won a contract to modernize a fleet of Skyhawk A4 combat planes acquired at a bargain price from the United States. The Cordoba plant is currently building a dozen military trainers for the Argentine air force and performing maintenance on the fleet of Aerolineas Argentinas and its Austral subsidiary, now in the process of being re-nationalized after years of floundering in private hands. EFE alm/dr Copyright ? 2009 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc. |