UK Defense of the Falkland Islands Today

Could the United Kingdom defend the Falkland Islands today?

Argentina's president has once again reaffirmed that Argentina

aspires to retake the Falkland Islands, which are a British overseas

territory.

So it was 44 years ago back in 1982 that Argentina

decided to invade the Falkland Island and seize it.

At the time, it was defended by about 68, uh, UK Marines.

It also had 11 Royal Naval personnel on the island, and about 23

Falkland Islanders that acted as a sort of reserve force.

Perhaps inevitably, Argentina prevailed.

Now, Argentina at the time probably suspected

that the British government wouldn't

commit to going halfway around the world to actually liberate the islands.

They hadn't allowed for the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Three days after the invasion, she launched the taskforce, and 74

days later, the British government accepted

Argentina's

surrender for the islands.

Rejoice at that news, and congratulate our

forces and the Marines.

But that war was a dreadful cost. It cost Argentina

655 lives, and likewise, the UK lost

255 of its personnel. The big lesson for the UK government

is it's a lot more difficult to liberate the islands than it is to defend

them properly.

So what's different today? Well, there now is a permanent detachment

of UK military personnel on the Falkland Islands, around

1,500 personnel, 20 times the number that was there before.

In addition, there are four Typhoon fighter jets bristling

with air-to-air

capability and radar. They're also supported by Voyager

air-to-air refueling aircraft so they can operate almost endlessly in the

skies. On the land, there's all sorts of surface-to-air

missile

systems available. Meanwhile, there's a Royal naval vessel patrolling

regularly,

and the nuclear submarine is regularly visiting the islands.

Now, should Argentina decide to have a go

against the islands, the first thing they

would do is fight the air battle. They'd have to counter the typhoon

Jets, which are far more capable than the

Argentinian F-16s.

But also, as soon as any conflict looked like it

was going to erupt,

reinforcements will be sent from the UK.

So despite some much advertised short-term funding issues facing the

British military, its ability to deter attacks against the

Falkland

Islands and indeed reinforce are an order of magnitude better

than they ever have been in the past.

Despite the veiled threats of the Argentine president to actually retake the

Falkland Islands, they've never been more secure than they

are today