The Argentinian government, which defaulted on its national debt in May, is now going to use its military pension and retirement fund to restart the development of its new 2-seat trainer aircraft, the IA-100 ‘Malvina’. The Argentian defence department has also announced that the aircraft would be called ‘Malvina’, which is the Argentinian name for the Falkland Islands.
Although this is already impressive considering Argentina’s starving wallet, you won’t believe this one: a new prototype of the Malvina, which has been modified to meet the Argentinian Air Force’s requirements, will be funded with a $2.5 million loan from the country’s military and retirement pension fund. Work on the previous Malvina protoype began in 2014 (which first flew 2 years later), but stopped 2 years later as its government contract had been suspended.
The Malvina is being produced (only 1 has been made so far) by Fabrica Argentina de Aviones (Argentina’s main aircraft manufacturer) and is powered by 1 Lycoming AEIO-360 180hp engine. 26th of August 2020.
Aeronews24 