At a recent summit of European leaders and their counterparts from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the European Union published a declaration in which it referred to the “Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands”.
The summit was aimed at re-energising economic and diplomatic relations between Europe and Celac countries and the joint declaration issued at its conclusion was signed by the 27 EU member states and 32 Celac nations.
It is not a binding document but the decision to refer to the islands by their Spanish as well as their British name is deeply significant. It happened despite reported efforts by UK foreign secretary James Cleverly to have the islands kept out of the summit declaration altogether and has left the UK angry.
Written by Jennifer Wood, Aberystwyth University. This article is the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the UK Defence Journal. If you would like to submit your own article on this topic or any other, please see our submission guidelines.
The UK and Argentina have disputed ownership of this southerly archipelago since 1833 – a fact promptly underlined by the responses from the respective governments. UK prime minister Rishi Sunak issued a statement bemoaning the EU’s “regrettable choice of words”. Argentina’s foreign minister Santiago Cafiero, meanwhile, reportedly hailed the EU’s willingness to “take note” of his government’s territorial claim as a “triumph of Argentine diplomacy”.
Argentina has long advocated for dialogue and negotiation. Britain, meanwhile, has consistently maintained that the islands are British and the islanders have voted to endorse that position.
This latest incident highlights the UK’s diminishing influence on EU affairs, post-Brexit. The EU has since clarified that its position on the islands remains unchanged, implying that it continues to recognise British sovereignty, but the shift in language is still notable. Use of the islands’ dual moniker suggests that each name carries equal validity and the UK government has pointed out that to use the name Argentina uses is to question British sovereignty. It has also underlined that this marks a break from the EU’s historical alignment with the UK’s stance. One EU official was quoted as saying: “The UK is not part of the EU. They are upset by the use of the word Malvinas. If they were in the EU perhaps they would have pushed back against it.”
How the archipelago got its names
My research shows that the rhetoric of “rightful possession” is at the heart of the territorial dispute. It is embedded in the act of naming.
With the advent of the European age of discovery in the 1500s, territorial naming – or renaming – became central to colonial practices. It was a means, as British writer James Hamilton-Paterson has put it, of taking ideological control of territory.
From the 16th century on, various names for the archipelago – the Sebalds, New Islands, Hawkins Maiden Land –- were used interchangeably, each relating to different European expeditions. Often these involved possible but unconfirmed sightings. Other names –- Falkland Islands; les Îles Malouines –- only later gained traction via their presence on maps, highlighting the strategic importance of cartography.
Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
British accounts of the Falklands, from the 19th century onwards, credited the Elizabethan navigator, John Davis, with their discovery, after Davis’s vessel, the Desire, was reportedly driven between the two main islands during a storm on August 14 1592. This has since been disputed by, among others, the legal scholar Roberto C Laver.
The first verifiable sighting and precise plotting dates back to 1600 and is attributed to the Dutch navigator Sebald de Weert. In January 1690, English mariner and captain of the Welfare John Strong made the first undisputed landing. Strong sailed down the sound between the two main islands which he named “Falkland Sound”, after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland, then Commissioner of the Admiralty.
By the early 18th century, a shift in British terminology had begun. Maps drawn up by English astronomer Edmund Halley demonstrate how cartographers went from using the name “Seebold de Waerds Isles” to “the Falklands” or “Falkland Islands”.
Eighteenth-century French expeditions, meanwhile, referred first to “les Îles Nouvelles” (the New Islands) and, from 1722, to “les Îles Malouines”, in reference to Saint-Malo, the Brittany port from which French expeditions often departed. It is from the latter that the Spanish name “Islas Malvinas” is derived.
Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
Beyond geography
In his landmark 1993 book, Culture and Imperialism, literary scholar Edward Said writes:
“Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.”
Islands have always had a certain chimerical quality. Many imaginary islands have appeared on and disappeared from maps, including Hy-Brasil, long purported to be off the coast of Ireland, and St. Brendan’s, charted somewhere in the North Atlantic but never found.
Cartographical history shows even real places, like Ascension Island, shifting shape and position because the absolute position and boundaries of an island can be difficult to ascertain. As shown by the cases of Bermeja Island (dubbed Mexico’s missing island) and Hans Island in the Arctic, over which Canada and Denmark have held a long-running border dispute, not to mention the numerous territorial disputes in the South China Sea, this remains true today.
Place names (or toponyms) often carry great cultural significance. They identify. They connect people to their heritage. They provide a sense of belonging – or alienation. They are emotive signifiers. Some are endowed with a greater symbolic capital or resistance than others.
The case of the Falklands/Malvinas makes this clear. Teslyn Barkman, deputy chair of the Falkland Island’s Legislative Assembly, has urged the EU to “respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders and refer to us by our proper name”.
However, the very inclusion of this territorial dispute in the EU declaration shows that, post-Brexit, Brussels no longer feels the need to show partnership with the UK on this issue of sovereignty. It signals that the bloc is open to further discussion.
Jennifer Wood, Senior Lecturer in Spanish & Latin American Studies, Aberystwyth University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Nothing new 😎
EU would need to do better than this. Wondering how deliberate an attempt this was to gain favour but also historical taking territory by force cannot be given any sort of international approval.
The EU was trying to get as much of the South American nations to support a joint position on Ukraine, this was an Ask from Argentina, and none of the 27 were overly concerned about it despite the Foreign Secretary trying to block it.
Its going to happen, just as the U.K. is free to take its own positions on issues, thought that was what the majority of the voters wanted?
The spanish Malvinas comes from Malouines. The name Malouines derive from Saint-Malo. Saint-Malo is supposed to be French… But just go in Saint-Malo and ask them about that!
Saint-Malo was a Nightmare for British shipping, but so fiercely independant that it was also One for Brittany and the King of France.
Go visit it some day!
Before I start allow me to make it quite clear I am for European union. (Having lived abroad a good chunk of my life) But lets be honest here, The Eu in its current form is nothing more than a bullying entity which is used to getting its way. Anybody who doesn’t do as they are told to by the unelected mandarins in power are punished, as we have seen with Greece, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary
The thing about the Uk, is it stuck by a vote which arose because the EU didn’t listen to David Cameron (no they sneered at the little Englander) and unlike the votes which went against it in Ireland, Denmark, France and Holland, it couldn’t demand a revote. (The latter two the EU just ignored) The EU cannot allow other countries to follow the Uk and leave, so it is hell bent on punishing the Uk (from every direction) simply in which to send the message to others, that they leave at their own peril.
The biggest threat the UK faces isn’t from Russia, China or even Migrants. It is from the wonderful EU, which is set upon breaking up the Union in which to ensure others are made aware what is in store if they dare step out of line.
The EU is helped by many so called Political Elites on this side of the water who paint the UK as the nasty one here and that only full submission to Strasburg is the only way. And looking at the language used I suspect they would have no problem punishing anybody who voted for Brexit. Yup welcome to the new socialist utopia currently taking over in the Uk, where been white, Christian, straight and proud of the Union flag is deemed to be a hate crime and who all subscribe to the view that the Uk should be made to pay for Empire, Slavery, and of course Brexit.
All encapsulated in an pro EU article by a Irish woman teaching in a Welsh uni with a bent for Spanish (and the Hispanic world) who on her bio states: “she teaches issues of sovereignty and gender in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict.”
Gee, what next an article from Putin about why the Ukraine is a Nazis place
Well said, mate. 100% agree.☝👍👍👍
Agree, the EU can do one. People in Europe may one day get wise to it all and vote in national governments looking for a BREXIT solution to the problem.
I could go on for an age about how the EU that was set up as a free trade zone in essence to allow Germany to have a devalued currency (the Euro) to help drive exports and to support a Germanic centred Europe. Something they failed to achieve twice through force of arms but now achieved economically.
The EU is now a federal super state and it’s citizens are now democratically hamstrung with zero ability to affect change as change would have to be EU wide. That’s never going to happen. A policy in Italy isn’t going to be seen as a vote winning requirement in Poland for example.
The woke culture of trying to flagulate countries for what occured in the past eg slavery and colonisation is a nonsense. The sins of our forefathers are not the sins of the son, grandson, great grandson etc. If they were and claims the UK should pay compensation are given air then let’s go after Germany. They can pay for two world wars, the Holocaust etc. France can pay for the Napoleonic wars and their conquests. It’s never going to happen. The individuals who like to profess these claims are devoid of common sense and are just making woke statements because A) they get more likes on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and B) to further their own career and the careers of their associates.
I think the only sensible response is ” no, get real” and then ignore.
Utter toss. Long wall of barely legible BS to justify your alleged exceptionalism.
You’re out of it, so the EU doesn’t have to listen to your special pleading any more, and yet you whingers moan about it incessantly. Brexiters are inveterate cretins who just can’t own up to their abject and all encompassing failure.
Great to watch the gammons snivelling though LOL.
Such anger, it’s understandable coming from such a little cog in a machine you have zero control over….
Perhaps one day your country might release the choke hold they have around your neck and layout actually have a vote about it??
Probably not though, poor, poor, little slaves of the European Parliament…..
In other words Pleiades, pootle off and play with your Reich Marks, sorry euros, I always mix up the currency of the third and fourth Reich’s😂😂
Ok, but then, if you have a so poor opinion of EU, why bother their comments? We respect UK sovereignty, but nobody discuss in Europe UK foreign affaires, relationship between England, Scotland or Welsh.
In the same way, I don’t think anybody in UK is interested in the tense debat between 2 blocs over energy in EU, the emergence of the eastern wall with Poland leading the charge, convergence between Marine Le Pen Rassemblement National and the German Alternative fur Deutschland, etc, etc… this are important business for us. I understand you don’t care. But look, UK can try to influence EU, but EU will listen politely and do what it has agreed to do.
I would have been so glad that England played the game of EU seriously. But all along UK membership, we have seen reluctance to play the game. Instead of being in top 3 of the players in EU, UK is on the brink of collapse, and junior patner in the 5 eyes, for geographical reasons.
The one who cares about UK are in EU, even if other’s speak your language in other seas or océans.
Lol what a tit of comment.
yawn
Shall we make Turkey pay for subjugating the Balkans? The Saley rover Barbay corsairs from North Africa for raiding & enslaving many from souther & western Europe? The Arabs & Islam for taking Byzantine lands?
Are the people making these claims/demands also attacking Russia for invading the Ukraine, Isis across Africa etc?
As ever Farouk, the floor is yours sir, take a bow while the applause dies down….
excellent commentary piece, well written Farouk!
Aw some. 👏👏.
I’m happy to see the UK pay for slavery so long as every culture, everywhere pays for past slavery.
Don’t get me wrong, slavery is despicable & we should continue to do everything to stamp it out. But where do we draw the line?
The Roman empire enslaved across the whole Mediterranean & west European world, virtually all ancient civilisations practiced slavery, most Islamic countries have a long history of enslaving others(some continuing to today), China, Mongolia, most American civilisation & crucially most African cultures in the past at least. In fact many European transported slaves were sold to slavers by Africans themselves.
I think the EU is a bunch of elitist, woke, condescending, control freaks. All they’re doing is making problems for themselves insulting the people of the Falklands, desecrating the sacrifice of lives retaking & defending them from a corrupt, violent dictatorship & insulting one of their major allies. The Falklands have been just so longer than either Germany or Italy existed as single soveriegn nations, same with those that were part of the Hapsburg Austro-Hungarian empire & Ottoman empire in Europe, so people in glass houses…
Huh, spot on, I guess it’s true what they say about broken clocks..
Pfou! Good that you are for EU, because what would it be otherway’s!
The current form of EU is just fine. It is accumulating experience, attachement, connections and ties. It takes time, but the will exists.
I don’t know why you blame an entity UK left. You should not even care.
FFS grow up Brittunculi…
Nestor wrote:
Brittunculi : The derogatory term used by the Romans that were based in Northern Britain to describe the locals, something akin to ‘nasty little Britons’
Nestor as a first name much in use in Argentina.
Little fun fact, every day’s a school day mate😂😂
The above will do for you too, are we supposed to impressed Nestor, a product of the Brussels troll farm perhaps?
Do you have exchanges with the Petersburg branch?😂😂
Articles such as this bring out the many lurkers with a chip, Argentinian, or otherwise.
Just laugh, the fact that they post shows they are losing.
True mate, I know, don’t feed the trolls, but it’s so hard sometimes 😂😂
You guys get more paranoid and nationalistic by the day, we didnt send men to die there because of its name, am pretty sure it was so the 400 people who live there had the right to determine their future.
But what do i know eh.
P.S. am uk born and bred, tho am beginning to wish i wasnt.
Well that’s racist just to start with.
British is a race?
How exactly?
You wouldn’t refer to Poland as East Prussia..
Time for you to take a hard look in the mirror.
I would suggest the Falklands make noises about the legitimacy of the democratic will of the people in the Falklands and the Catalan and Basque regions of Spain, being honoured and respected like the Northern Ireland Peace process.
The Falklanders could also remind the world about the aggressive Argentine claim to the Chilean islands in the Beagle Channel. Argentina just seem to want to colonise territory that interests them.
Wiki: “After refusing to abide by a binding international award giving the islands to Chile, the Argentine junta advanced the nation to war in 1978 in order to produce a boundary consistent with Argentine claims.
The Beagle conflict is seen as the main reason for Chilean support of the United Kingdom during the Falklands War of 1982.”
Meanwhile in the real world, Las Islas Malvinas is the normal name of the islands in Spanish, it’s the normal name in Portuguese and its close cognate is the normal name in French.
I am British and personally I think the Falklands should belong to the UK because that’s what people there want. When I speak English, I call them the Falklands – when I speak Spanish – and I do speak Spanish – I call them Las Malvinas BECAUSE THAT IS THEIR NAME IN THAT LANGUAGE. What name should the EU use when dealing with a bunch of mostly Spanish speaking countries? The Mongolian one?
This is why its a tragedy that learning languages is in such decline in the UK because it invariably leads to the kind of monolingual parochialism that leads to nonsense like this manufactured controversy. Things have different names in different languages. If I call London “Llundain” in Welsh am I claiming it’s part of Wales? If I call Scotland Schottland is it making a territorial claim on the part of Germany?
However, it won’t stop the Brexiters tub thumping away about this one. Ironically, they’re doing the same that Argentine politicians are doing over the islands – drumming up a bit of performative outrage to distract attention from more pressing issues at home.
Brexiters are cretins, no use expecting rationality from senile old buffoons like them…
Are you still here, isn’t there an EU defence journal where you can discuss your terrible helicopters that the world can’t move fast enough to get shot of?
Off you pop sunshine….. Back to the Brussels troll farm with you….
I think you are putting things bluntly to wind them up and it is unproductive. You can afford to be more patient. We will be trying to get back into the EU before I retire and I am 61.
There was never a real majority for leaving anyway, that’s what makes it the Brexit coup
No need to be so ‘foreign minded’ about it Bob😉
It says “Islas Malvinas / Falkland Islands” on the English version but just “Islas Malvinas” on the Spanish version..
This is equivalent to writing ‘East Prussia’ on the German version of a document and ‘East Prussia/Poland’ on the Polish version.
Good points, what amused me was eu started speaking in English as soon as we left. Hilarious
Maybe you should know Portuguese first.
While the EU support Ukraine and it’s right to self determination and defence as a sovereign democratic nation they are too biased against dissent from the great European Project to respect the right of Falkland Islanders to decide what the islands are called.
Slava Ukraine, Slava Heroyim
Glory to critical thinking everywhere
#StandWithUkraine
Stand with Ukraine and the Falklands!
The EU can do one. The facts are irrefutable.
The islands have been lived in by generations of Falkland islanders. There are 3000 people living there who call the islands their home and have held a democratic referendum to remain a British overseas territory.
The Argentinian government only want the islands for their supposed mineral wealth. Problem is, with global warming we shouldn’t really be extracting oil and gas for fossil fuel burning. The Argentinian government use the Falklands as part of their national psyche to distract their citizens from their own terrible economic mess, a mess of their own making that they seem incapable of extracting themselves out of due to corruption and governmental incompetence.
The islands are NOT part of Argentina. They are separated by nearly 400 miles of Ocean.
If they are part of Argentina then we should claim France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Spain, Iceland, Denmark and Ireland as British territories with immediate effect.
The Falklands were never Argentinian, they were once a Spanish colony but only for a couple of years. The Spanish left as the islands terrain and climate weren’t for their liking and the British then claimed the islands and have lived their ever since. 1830s I believe that happened so quite a long time ago now. The British have lived their so long in fact that any claim they are occupying colonial powers is an utter nonsense. The islands have their own parliament, their own culture and national identity.
French and British communities were created in the islands following landings at different sites in 1764 and 1765.
The French surrendered their claim to Spain who then accepted British soverignty. Years later Argentina was created and decided to adopt the abandoned Spanish claim.
I agree with your points. Argentina does not recognise self-determination, which is the guiding principle for any community in a democracy.
Possession is 9/10 of the law and that resides with the inhabitants.
1960. Resolution 1514 (XV) proclaims the necessity of bringing colonialism in all its forms and manifestations to a speedy and unconditional end and declares that all people have a right to self-determination.
Let’s face it the islanders don’t want to be invaded yet again and consequently will remain British to prevent any chance of that happening. The politicians should not make such a fuss as they are just highlighting what would otherwise simply go unnoticed. Unless the EU is planning on providing support for an invasion of the islands I think we can all relax.
If they are the same group since 300 years, consanguinity must be at all time high, breaking records! 😄
No way we would not support UK claim over Falkland. But this is foreign policy about Ukraine.
Thanks. I find the phrase ‘British claim’ to be odd. Does anyone talk about the American claim to Hawaii?
Sorry, my knowledge is a bit low. Appologies. May be sovereingty is better thank claim
Not a problem Math. Plenty of non-Brits do use the word ‘claim’ in respect of British sovereignty.
The EU have no respect for democracy or the wishes of its own people , it is only interested I promoting its own agenda IE that of a supranational state swallowing up all the countries of Europe with its people having no say and punishing those who stand up to it ( remind you of anyone a bit further east ) . Argentina have never owned the Falkland Islands they are and will remain British for as long as it’s inhabitant wish it . Maybe the French and Spanish should look at their own possessions around the world before daring to lecture the British
I suspect the EU are simply trying to suck up to the electorate in Spain and France in order to seem relevant.
Don’t worry, on this topic, France know well where are it’s interest. It is a shame that since ours are so close to yours’ our countries don’t go along better.
If any one in the EU understood the History of the Falklands they will realise the Falklands long existed before Argentina was even created, if anyone has a claim it’s the Spanish, Argentina has zero claim purely by the fact they have never inhabited the place except briefly in 1982 after an invasion by force, the EZu need to educate themselves and keep their noses out
I think only the Argentinians have disputed the sovereignty since 1833; I doubt that we have!
If Argentina wasn’t a failed state with a crippled economy and no military people might care about its claims.
Argentina has as much claim to the Falklands as Britain has to the Pharos islands.
Proximity’s is not a factor, self determination and possession is nine tenths of the law.
This underlines why many felt compelled to vote for Brexit. £100bn contributed to the project. One of the most eager adherents of EU policy. Principal advocate of democracy and human rights within its institutions. Entered on terms so beneficial to the project the French thought we’d never accept them. Key contributor to bail out funds for EU nations during the GFC dispite not being a Eurozone member. Key proponent of accession of the former Warsaw pact states and one of the few to fully open its doors to them from day one.
This demonstrates how Britain’s membership and contributions to the EU count for so little.
But I don’t blame them too much. I’ve seen BBC children’s programs calling the island Las Malvinas.
Now would be a great moment for Argentina to move back into the Falklands, and there is no task force to repel it like last time, just one semi working vessel which may, or may not make it, and maybe one old Vulcan who could make a symbolic flight down to drop a bag of flour on Stanley airfield, I bet half the ships and equipment we have now would break down long before they got to the south atlantic.
The Argentine forces are in no state to repeat April 1982, particularly the navy and air force are in a poor shape .
Don’t forget the RAF has a large base facility in the Falkland’s and would likely reinforce assets before things kicked off.
That may be literally our only saving grace Klonkie ??
Quite probably Mark!
The Joint Operating Base is tri-service.
Thank you Graham
Sorry. A load of cobblers. What have you read on the capabilities of the armed forces to have such a view with comments about flour and one semi working vessel?
Are you aware of what is currently on the Falkland Islands and what capabilities the armed forces of Argentina have compared to those of the UK?
The UK is not blind. We have intelligence assets that would see the buildup.
We also saw them coming in 82, today the capabilities are even greater. I don’t need to go into details there.
Vulcans and Port Stanley. Have you heard of something called TLAM? An SSN could deploy there and negate every target on those Islands and what will Argentina do about it?
The RN also deployed CGS 21 to show it can deploy assets to the other side of the world, with a logistic tail. And I don’t care for the wingers who say oh that also had allied vessels. Remove the allied vessels, in war assets are pulled from other tasks and a force is assembled.
Honestly, the amount of negativity around the armed forces based purely on how many of what compared to how many we had in 82 and 90 is ridiculous.
You have to look at both sides and the capability, logistics, training, professionalism and tech of the forces you have vs that of your potential opponent.
Indeed. Argentinian armed forces are a shadow of what they were too.
Agree with you DM , I am guilty at times about comparing the size of our forces from 80s,however for a Falklands conflict now we have a very different pack of cards. 👍
A very good summary of the situation Daniele. On the other side of the ledger, the Argentine Navy and Air Force are in a poor state, nothing like the capabilities (and scale) thy had in 1982.
Realistically had Sapper Hill’s 2 single BL 6”/50-cal Mark 7 gun battery, Mount Low’s 1 single QF 4″ Gun, Charles Point’s 2 QF 12-pdr 12-cwt guns and two 3-pdr guns been replaced by 5 three triple 8”/50-calibre Mark 8 coastal batteries along with facilities at Sapper Hill, Mount Low, Charles Point, Ordinance Point and Tussac Point, this would have made things a lot harder for the Argentines
I think you should look at the state of Argentine forces before belittling ours. What could they invade with? Virtually no airpower, what they have wouldn’t survive the crossing with Typhoons based in the Falklands. Barely a functioning navy. We’ve got astute subs, two large carriers with 5th generation stealth fighters, not a lot of frigates & destroyers, but enough to clear the seas of anything Argentina could field. We still have amphibious capabiliy & the means to rapidly deploy more airtcraft & troops there in a crisis.
Let’s just work at getting on with Argentina as best we can & hopefully keep her clear of Chinese ambitions.
Not just Typhoons based in the Falklands. We have a range of defence capabilities down there including naval and army assets.
Plus we have sky sabre 🚀for ADF
Indeed. AAF has just 53 combat jets on its books, 29 of them trainers/light attack, the rest 24 Reconditioned Skyhawks(A4R Fighting Hawks) & numbers of them operational could be little more that half a dozen. It is extremely unlikely any could get past our Typhoons & then Sky Sabre SAMs would finish any survivors off. Radar coverage is hugely advanced from 1982, so even an(extremely forlorn hope!) attempted landing by ship would be picked up early & bombed by Typhoons. While our own forces are much depleted, they outstrip the desperate straights Argentine armed forces are in.
In June Biden proposed senate clearance for the possible sale of ex-Danish F16s to Argentina, but the near half billion dollar price tag may be beyond Argentina & we may get Denmark to drop the idea.
Go ahead, then Mark. You may be in for a bit of a surprise. As indeed would Argentina; however, to give that country it’s due*, it does know that.
* love the wine.
Rgs
You are of course joking.
A QEC carrier battle group deployed in 2022 around to Japan and the pacific then sailed back. The fact the ship never broke down, deployed with 5th generation fighter jets and the worlds best ASW helicopter, supported by 2 of the worlds best air defence destroyers, an astute class submarine and 2 of the best ASW frigates in the world means nothing to you?
I think if need arose an enlarged battle group could just about be deployed. Once off the Falkland islands there are very few nations in the world that would have the standing power to defeat such a force.
I agree to a point, my original statement and you confirmed it that Argentina didn’t exist in 1765 when the British colonised it, therefore Argentina by that fact alone has no claim
Mm, the UK had a far more relaxed view over the Falklands – before an Authoritarian state decided to invade. It’s about that time the population – we know their longstanding British origin – got somewhat jumpy about what their homeland was called. I can understand that.
I quote CNN in 2020:- While it may seem somewhat petty, the naming debate is emblematic of the sensitivities and controversies _________ has to deal with whenever it plays even a small role internationally. This of course relates to China/Chinese Taipei/Taiwan – take your pick. Anyone know the latest on Russia/Ukraine?
Had the Government bothered with giving the armed forces the money they needed, the 4 warships the RN lost would have had warning as the Westland WS-61 Sea King AEW.2 would have been airborne and the Argentine jets would have been caught
better yet, 2 CVA-01 carriers would have been far better than what the RN had back in 82
Agree 👍
K, whilst your point is entirely valid re the lack of AEW assets, it is not the be all and end all of air defence. Although, it is of course a huge enabler.
The Argentine air force failed to escort jet strike components. The Mirage 111 fleet stayed at home, only once engaging Sea Harriers (I believe). The Mirages could have drawn off the CAP, improving the odds for their strike assets. Layered strike jet elements can also swamp AEW and response. This is a problematic with limited air defence assets like the RN had in the Falklands.
With regard to conventional jets ops (like the old RN Phantom).I have read that the high sea states would have often prevented conventional recovery with traps, but I’m no expert on carrier ops and I wasn’t there.