Credit: CITEDEF
An Argentinian defense institute says it has demonstrated a potential way to evade a UK export ban on parts for Martin-Baker ejection seats on the South American country’s grounded fleet of Dassault Super Etendard fighters.
The Villa Maria division of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Research for Defense (CITEDEF) fired a catapult rocket motor for fighter aircraft ejection seats on April 1, the organization announced on social media April 5.
The goal of the firing test was to qualify a new test bench for ejection seat rocket motors, CITEDEF said, adding that the test succeeded, verifying two years of engineering spent on the project.
The test bench will allow CITEDEF’s engineers to evaluate the rocket motors on the Super Etendard fleet’s ejection seats. If it is possible to extend the life of the existing rocket motors, the test bench will help validate the life-extension upgrades and return the Super Etendards to flight. Alternatively, the test bench also should be able to study new rocket motors.
In both scenarios, the Argentine navy can use CITEDEF’s test bench to solve an old problem. The navy acquired five refurbished Super Etendard’s from France in 2019, but the small fleet has been grounded due to the lack of critical parts, including the ejection seat rocket motors. Parts for Martin-Baker ejection seats are banned in Argentina by the UK government.
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