Argentine President Javier Milei's government has signed a letter of intent with the United States authorising joint naval patrols of the South Atlantic (the ocean stretching south of the Americas and Africa) for the next five years, deepening Buenos Aires's military alignment with the Trump administration. The agreement, concluded between US Southern Command and the Argentine Navy under Washington's "Protecting Global Commons Program," also involves the transfer of US surveillance technology — including multispectral sensors, maritime patrol aircraft, and vertical-takeoff drones — to modernise Argentine naval capabilities. The deal has drawn sharp criticism from Peronist opposition figures, who reject the characterisation of Argentine waters as "global commons" and warn that authorising a foreign military presence in a region at the heart of Argentina's sovereignty dispute over the Falkland Islands undermines the country's strategic autonomy.