I think Creaking Door is correct in that examination of the SHAR kills shows them all to be well within the effective envelop of the 9G. In fact I believe that on at least two occasions the SHAR had head on engagement opportunities but the 9L failed to lock up.

Woodward was a Submariner who by all accounts, pre Falklands had been quite vocal in his views that the SHAR was meerly token seaborne air defence.

I think his views in the first post were him trying to validate or save face given the SHAR/FAA pilots excellence performance compared to his pre Falklands mutterings.

PS I once heard that, right at the start of the Falklands war, somebody in the Navy asked Ferranti if it was possible to integrate Red Top onto the SHAR Blue Fox. The study lasted less than a week but is an interesting what if. Compared to 9L, Red Top was heavy, but did offer a radar slaved IR seeker.