The Argentine government denied on Wednesday that civil or military aircraft registered in the country had entered Chilean airspace.
The statements were made after Gabriel Boric's Defense Minister, Maya Fernández Allende, denounced an alleged territorial violation and ordered the deployment of F-5 fighter-bombers stationed at the Chabunco Air Base in Punta Arenas.
"Yesterday, around 8 p.m., in the eastern part of the Strait of Magellan, there was an alert for unidentified air traffic," said the Argentine official on Wednesday afternoon, in response to which she indicated that the activation of "the protocols by taking off the F-5 planes in order to safeguard our sovereignty" was arranged. However, she reported that "contact with that air traffic was lost," although she clarified that they will carry out an investigation.
The Chilean authorities' complaint came as a surprise to the Argentine Ministry of Defense. When asked by the Noticias Argentinas agency, they assured that "there were no flights of Argentine aircraft, neither military nor civilian, during that time slot."
They also confirmed that there was "no" type of request from the Chilean authorities to the Ministry of Defense, the Department of International Affairs, or the Air Force. They also clarified that they learned of the incident from the Chilean Minister of Defense's post on social media.
The Air Force officially reported that the only flight activity carried out on August 27 was a LADE flight with the Twin Otter system with the following stopovers and times: Takeoff from GAL (Río Gallegos) 12:00 p.m.; Landing in USU (Ushuaia) 13:40; Takeoff from USU 14:05; Landing in GRA (Río Grande) 14:55; Takeoff from GRA 15:35 and Landing in GAL 16:55.
