Fighter Squadron 126 (VF-126), the Pacific Fleet Adversary Squadron, was known as the "Bandits". Adversary operations involve friendly aircraft mimicking the tactics and characteristics of enemy forces to enhance the relevance of combat training. VF-126 started providing the adversary mission in April 1967 from Miramar. The Skyhawk was chosen as the bandit aircraft because of its maneuverability and smokeless trail, just like a MIG. A-4M Bu No. 158413, was the last of several ex-USMC Skyhawks assigned to the US Navy adversary unit VF-126 "Bandits" and co-located Naval Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun), at NAS Miramar. These aircraft served with VF-126 alongside a motley collection of A-4E/Fs and TA-4F/Js until the "Bandits" were dis-established on 1 April 1994. Bu No. 158413 was then placed in storage within the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. Later that same year it was one of 36 surplus A-4Ms sold to the Fuerza Aerea Argentina (Argentine Air Force).

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was an American attack aircraft originally designed to operate from United States Navy aircraft carriers. The aircraft was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Corporation (later McDonnell Douglas), and was originally designated the A4D under the US Navy's pre-1962 designation system. This A-4F Skyhawk served with Navy attack squadron VA-212 aboard the carrier USS Hancock in the early 1970s, during the Vietnam War. Skyhawks operated in theatre until the withdrawal from Vietnam and accounted for 37 per cent of combat losses from enemy fire.