The China Mail - Argentina revives plan for South Atlantic naval base amid Falklands tensions

This is the dormant site of the proposed Ushuaia naval base that right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei wants to revive to serve as a military and logistical hub in the South Atlantic.

In early September, he ordered that priority be given in the government's 2027 budget to "the development of the Integrated Naval Base and other strategic projects."

That message came in a speech where Milei also took a tougher line on Argentina's sovereignty claim over the British-held Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic -- known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, and scene of a 1982 war between the two countries.

The Falklands lie about 560 kilometers (350 miles) to the northeast of Ushuaia.

The foundation stone for the Ushuaia base was laid in 2022 by the previous center-left government in Buenos Aires, but work has since stalled.

Only about nine percent of the project has been completed, according to a government report submitted to lawmakers in mid-2025.

Milei, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has previously championed development of the base in the context of Argentina's alignment with Washington.

In 2024, he declared it would be a "joint military base" with the United States, but aides walked that idea back and insisted any base would be 100 percent Argentine -- a stance reiterated by his office this week.

"100 percent Argentine. There is no material collaboration from the United States to build the base," presidential spokesman Adrian Ravier said Tuesday.

- No base yet, but a consensus -

There is currently no active construction -- just a 2,500-square-meter (0.6-acre) concrete slab on a 38-hectare (94-acre), vacant but restricted lot near the Ushuaia airport. Milei has not offered a timeline for the base's completion.

Despite the lack of progress, the head of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has visited the remote site in 2024 and 2025 to check on its status.

On Friday, Argentina's foreign and defense ministers were dispatched to the site -- a desolate location on a small peninsula six kilometers (four miles) from Ushuaia -- to demonstrate Buenos Aires's resolve, with snow-capped mountains providing the backdrop for the accompanying photos.

Ushuaia is already home to a more centrally located naval facility established in 1950, the Admiral Berisso Base, a staging point for Antarctic expeditions.

The proposed new facility would inherit some equipment from the older base.

"For decades, the country has envisioned a naval base in Ushuaia that integrates all three branches of the armed forces, linked to Antarctic development," said Daniel Guzman, a Falklands War veteran and now an international relations analyst.

Ravier, Milei's spokesman, said the base would have no "warlike character but will function as the most important logistics hub in the South Atlantic, providing operational and scientific support for our geopolitical projection toward Antarctica."

Argentina maintains 13 scientific bases in the region.

Milei opponent Gustavo Melella, the governor of Tierra del Fuego province of which Ushuaia is the capital, supports the planned base, "provided it does not involve the participation of other countries."

"The eyes of the world are currently fixed on this area. Now is the time to capitalize on it," said Ruben Rafael, a 69-year-old doctor from the province.

- Interests of superpowers -

For political scientist Luis Castelli, the international interest in this corner of the globe goes well beyond the issue of the planned base due to the location's "high geopolitical value, situated on a channel connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans."

Indeed, Washington is not alone in showing an interest.

Construction is progressing nearby on a 40-megawatt thermal power plant backed by Chinese funding that is due for completion next year.

The $80 million investment should yield "energy security for Ushuaia for 35 years," said Melella.

S.Davis--ThChM