Traditionally, Argentina maintains close defense cooperation and military-supply relationships with the United States and to a lesser extent, with Israel, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Belarus, Italy, and Russia.

After the Revolución Libertadora coup that deposed president Juan Domingo Perón in 1955, the armed forces split into opposing sectors named Azules y colorados ("Blues and Reds").

In 1965, the Argentine military conducted a 10-man patrol on Antarctica called Operación 90 under then-Colonel Jorge E. Leal to perform scientific observations and promote Argentina's claim to a portion of the continent.

As Isabel Perón was unable to defeat the terrorist organizations of Montoneros and ERP, the military took power during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état and exterminated the violent communist guerrillas by random detentions, torture or death.

The democratic government of Raúl Alfonsín that took office in 1983 prosecuted the 1970s crimes and made the unprecedented (and only Latin American example) Trial of the Juntas and soon the Army was rocked by uprisings and internal infighting.

[citation needed] Also, in the 1990s, Argentine Armed Forces began a close defense cooperation and friendship policy with neighbors Brazil and Chile, with emphasis on fulfillment of United Nations mandates.

The British embargo due to the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) was officially eliminated and Argentina was granted Major Non-NATO ally status by United States President Bill Clinton.

[6] The modern Argentine Armed Forces are committed to international peacekeeping under United Nations mandates, humanitarian aid on emergencies relief and support the country's continuous presence at Antarctica.

Argentina military spending is one of the lowest of South America[7][8] and as of 2010, its 0.9% of GDP only exceeds Suriname[9] Within the defence budget itself funding for training and even basic maintenance was significantly cut, a factor contributing to the accidental loss of the Argentine submarine San Juan in 2017.

UNFICYP was also a precedent in the Latin American military as troops of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay are embedded in the Argentine contingent[18] Since 1999 and as of June 2006, Argentina is the only Latin American country to maintain troops in Kosovo during SFOR (and later EUFOR) operations where combat engineers of the Argentine Armed Forces are embedded in an Italian brigade.