President Milei’s government declared military secrecy over the purchase of new equipment for the armed forces on Monday, a decree that keeps the type of equipment, its cost and its supplier out of public view.
Decree 1205, published in the official gazette and signed by Milei and Defense Minister Carlos Presti, a lieutenant general, covers the contracts needed to carry out the purchases listed in a Defense Ministry file. The decree does not say what is being bought, from whom or for how much, and does not name the armed service that will receive it.
Under the 1963 military secrecy rules the decree cites, the agencies involved are exempt from the publicity rules that normally apply to state purchases. The Defense Ministry argues that disclosure could compromise national security and the country’s means of defense. Its administrative undersecretariat is authorized to take the steps needed to put the decree into effect.
The order comes during a dispute with Britain over the Malvinas (Falkland Islands). Argentina has opened international arbitration over the Sea Lion oil project, sanctioned companies that work around the islands and committed funds to revive the Ushuaia naval base. The decree itself makes no mention of the Malvinas or of any specific weapon system.
The government has issued at least four earlier decrees of this kind: three in 2024 tied to the F-16 fighter jets bought from Denmark, and a fourth this year covering the temporary export of F-16 parts for maintenance. The jets’ second batch arrived in September. This decree carries a different file number and does not mention the F-16s.
Infobae’s data unit calculated, from the state purchasing system and bilateral agreements, that Argentina spent US$445 million on weapons and military and security equipment between December 2023 and August 2026. That is more than the US$428.7 million under former President Alberto Fernández and six times the US$72 million under Mauricio Macri, according to the same count. Most of it was spent in 2024.