brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
My bad. Read about it while enjoying a cocktail in Buenos Aires.
I waged war in the Falklands.
- Thread starter brownmonster
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Catatonic
Nine Lives
You and Brian Williams?
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
They were swapping war stories.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
The Falklands war was a fascinating one in the sense that there was a 40 year span of technology. You had aircraft carriers and cruisers ( the British HMS Hermes and the Argentine General Belgrano) that fought in World War 2 as well as state-of-the-art nuclear attack submarines and jet fighters using guided missiles.
What truly won that war for the British was their nuclear-powered attack submarines. The Argentinian navy had no means of protecting themselves from these subs, so their ships (including their aircraft carrier) were forced to retreat back to their ports. This forced the Argentinian attack aircraft to operate from land bases that were 400+ miles away from the Falklands, at the extreme limits of their combat range. This largely negated their huge numerical superiority in aircraft. Another little-known fact is that, en route to the Falklands, the British fleet was met at sea by an American ship bearing gifts for our British cousins; the newest versions of our Sidewinder heat-seeking air-to-air missile and the Stinger anti-aircraft missile. This gave the outnumbered British pilots in their Harriers a huge advantage over the Argentinians in their A-4 Skyhawks and IAI Daggers that were only armed with guns.
What truly won that war for the British was their nuclear-powered attack submarines. The Argentinian navy had no means of protecting themselves from these subs, so their ships (including their aircraft carrier) were forced to retreat back to their ports. This forced the Argentinian attack aircraft to operate from land bases that were 400+ miles away from the Falklands, at the extreme limits of their combat range. This largely negated their huge numerical superiority in aircraft. Another little-known fact is that, en route to the Falklands, the British fleet was met at sea by an American ship bearing gifts for our British cousins; the newest versions of our Sidewinder heat-seeking air-to-air missile and the Stinger anti-aircraft missile. This gave the outnumbered British pilots in their Harriers a huge advantage over the Argentinians in their A-4 Skyhawks and IAI Daggers that were only armed with guns.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
Another little-known factoid about that war is that several of the Excocet missiles launched by the Argentinians failed to detonate their warheads on impact. The missile body and unused fuel still caused tremendous damage, but the warheads failed to explode. The Exocets were made by France, an ally of Great Britain, and I have always wondered if the French had secretly installed some sort of a "warhead shutoff" device that could be triggered remotely by a radio frequency that only France (and her allies) would be aware of. I love conspiracy theories!
realbrown1
Annoy a liberal today. Hit them with facts.
That, or the frogs just made crappy missiles. Either way that was lucky for the British.
I've wondered if we don't do that with some of our more dubious allies or if possibly certain aerospace engineers are quietly on the NSA speed dial for a back door kill switch.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
No the Exocet was state of the art and equal to anything made by us or the Soviets at the time.
At the outbreak of hostilities, there were French engineers in Argentina helping them install and calibrate the six newly-purchased Exocet missiles onto their Super Etenard strike aircraft. Most of the engineers were ordered by the French government to stop work immediately and leave, but a few allegedly "disobeyed" orders and remained behind to complete the work. Another theory holds that they did so in an attempt to sabotage the missiles. France also suspended all additional foreign orders for the Exocet during the war in order to prevent Argentina from obtaining any more of them.
realbrown1
Annoy a liberal today. Hit them with facts.
I believe you. I was thinking of some of the bad weapon systems that they had made in the world wars.
I saw on TV a french machine gun that was so poorly mass produced, that parts from one gun may not be interchangeable with another.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
You would be referring to the "Chauchaut" light machine gun of World War One vintage, which was indeed a complete piece of junk. It jammed constantly and the innards of its magazine were exposed to the elements which allowed the mud and snow of trench warfare to get inside and gum up the works.
The French finally got their act together after WW2, and from the Cold War onward they have produced fighter aircraft and missile technology that is every bit as good as ours.
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