FedaykinI thought those had been moved back to the UK.
As far as I am aware there still based on the Falklands.
FedaykinArgentina is certainly in no way ready to attempt retaking the Falkland Islands, but the British defences are not that impressive either really, they are more of a token gesture than a serious capability.
http://www.raf.mod.uk/stations/os_base.html
http://www.army.mod.uk/aroundtheworld/flk/index.htm
Rapid reinforcement by air will only be possible if the Argentinian’s fail to take out the airfields on Ascension Island and the Falkland’s.
The 1982 Falkland’s invasion was a opportune political misadventure, any serious attempt by Argentina to retake the island’s is unlikely to make the same mistakes.
But more than adequate for deterrance of any move by Argentina, I seriously doubt that Argentina could put Ascension Island out of comission!
FedaykinJust shows how fascinating the Indian Su-30mki are aside from the thrust vectoring.
As far as Im aware they have a unique combination of Russian, Israeli, Indian and French Avionics.
I certainly wouldn’t mind if someone gives a break down of what Avionics are fitted to those birds. (I used to have a list in a copy of AFM but that has long gone).
FedaykinOne word……
OIL
The point being?
It still doesn’t change the fact that Argentiana is seriously overmatched when it comes to comparing her armed forces to the defences on the Falkland Islands.
More importantly as far as I am aware oil exploration in the area is in its early stages.
FedaykinMost Airforces that still operate the Phantom mainly use them as bomb trucks, those that do use them for Air to Air missions tend to use shoot and scoot tactics.
FedaykinWing Commander was fun in a cheap sort of way.
Here are a few pics for those who are interested.
FedaykinThe fascinating thing is KG200 operated the B17 (redesignated as a Dornier 200) because it was very good for the role they used it for.
They flew with very clear German markings.
FedaykinThis has become a pointless thread the moderator needs to lock it!
It was threads like this that made me stop using Strategypage. There was one particular poster on that forum called Gixer/DarthAmarica who was more interested in prooving he was right then ever having a civil discussion.
Stop this before this forum gets ruined as well!
FedaykinWell all these jets have something to say for them but if you boil it down to number of variant’s, numbers built, numbers exported, number of combat kills and number still in service the F4 Phantom wins hands down.
FedaykinArgentina just doesn’t have the resources available now or anytime in the near future…………………….and with the RN gaining the CVF’s, JSF’s, T-45’s, etc. etc. all within the next 10 years. That is even more unlikley………. :rolleyes: If, any solution happens. It will be political……… 😀
You can certainly add CVF, JSF and Type45 to the equation.
But the UKs strategy is to avoid having to take back the Islands by sea but rather maintain a strong garrison supported by aircraft that can be reinforced quickly.
Considering that the amount the UK spends every year on defending the Falklands is larger then the entire annual Argentine Defence budget you should get an Idea of the Scale of problem that Argentina faces.
Oh well all you can say is….
Dont Cry for me Argentina
FedaykinI hate to rain on peoples party but even if the Argentines were able to get Miraage 2000 with decent missiles it would still be very difficult for them to take the Falkland Islands.
British defences on the Island are focused on delaying any Argentine move and allowing enough time for reinforcements to be flown in. In effect it is a policy of deterrance.
The four Tornado F3s guided by the Radar based on the Island with support of the tanker have a massive radious of action. Combined with the fact that the RAF has a qualitive advantage when comes to the air to air armament of the F3s based at Mount Pleasent you can start to see the problems facing the Argentines.
And things get no better for the Argentines when you consider that the RAF are starting to recieve Typhoon which has an even better Radar and Air to Air Fit in the form of Captor and Meteor. I havent got the figures but when you factor that in, the Radious of action gets even larger. Even with tanker support and Mica the Miraage 2000 would be hard pressed against Amraam equipped Tornado with the advantages already listed. When you consider that by the time Argentina were able to induct Miraage 2000 the RAF will have an even greater technological advantage in the form of Typhoon with Meteor then you see there problems.
As already mentioned the Navy operates a TLAM equipped Nuclear Submarine in the area, this is a real issue for Argentina as they have not got a credible ASUW capability that can deal with this. Which leaves them a two fold problem, firstly they will not be able to offer adequate protection to any invasion force and secondly the TLAMS threaten their airfields and facilities on the main land.
To pull off an invasion of the Island the Argentines will need to overwhelm the defences with capeable fighters and use transport aircraft to land a sizeable amount of men and equipment before the UK could react. They would need to do all this whilst maintaining complete secrecy or the game would be up and the UK would reinforce the Island. All the equipment and men being prepared for action would be fairly obvious. The UK has most of the equipment required for the defence of the Island prepositioned on the Island already. If it looked like Argentina was going to make a move the RAF can fly troops down to the Falklands to match up with this equipment in hours. Troops wouldn’t be the only thing that would be flown down to support the Island. AWACS, Nimrod, GR4 Strike bombers equipped with Storm shaddow amongst other things and more fighter aircraft to bolster those already on the Island.
To pull this all off Argentina would need to instigate a massive equipment purchase program. They would need ships, Fighters, Transport Aircraft, Tankers and numerous other Items of equipment. It would not be something that could not be easily be hidden from the world and the UK government would certainly take notice of the situation and respond accordingly.
This leads onto another issue, Argentina is bankrupt! her armed forces in many respects are in a worse state then during 1982. Their economy could not support the kind of procurement program required. I would not be surprised if Argentina did procure Miraage 2000 but these will more then likely be second hand and no real match to anything in the RAFs inventory.
So to sum up…
1) The UK has a technological advantage.
2) It is unlikely Argentina will be able to afford the equipment to pull off an invasion.
3)The UK will more then likely have ample warning of any move by Argentina.
4) The Island will be reinforced to a degree that would be difficult to overwhelm.
5) With stand off land attack missiles the UK can seriously dissrupt Argentine Millitary facilities on the main land.
FedaykinNow I think about it Hms Warspite and Hms Dreadnaut are also names I would love to see again.
FedaykinSadly with the massive reduction in size of the RN a great many fine names will never be used again.
Wouldn’t mind seeing an HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles again!
FedaykinHi Fedaykin
I did actually post the Blk 60 loss two days ago but it seems to have attracted little interest. It will be interesting to see how the engine copes out there in the desert. As long as American crews are maintaining the plane it will be fine. However the -132 engine is typically American- balls to the wall, full tilt gonzo, max power and I think the UAE will have problems maintaining that engine on their own. The FADEC will derate the engine as wear and tear increases but even so I believe that for the first two or three years they will be pulling the engine regularly to make sure the wear isn´t more than what has been calculated. check out the thread.http://www.geae.com/engines/military/f110/index.html
As regards the Typhoon this is a sensitive issue here on this forum- briefly all the forum members allegiances can be pidgeon holed as follows :dev2:
a: the F18 Super Hornet is a fantastic plane
b: the Typhoon represents the pinnacle of European combat aviation
c: the Rafale is the only aircraft offering a sensible mix of A2A and A2G capabilities
Trash any of the above and see what happens 🙂
Its certainly a good example of how often modern millitary aircraft crash Puffadder. 😀
Funnily I have a story to tell about the UAEs fighter procurement, back in 1997 I was at a 6th college studying Engineering. On our course we had 30 young students from the UAE.
It transpired through the year that they were all members of their airforce which wanted to give them an initial qualification in Engineering.
On an aside one of my friends did his work experiance with Thompson CSF at Gatwick working with Radars, I will never forget the very probing questions from the Arab student who had been a radar operator with the UAE Airforce. :confused: (On a further aside despite my specialisms at college being Electronics and computing I did my work experiance at a local brewery – :dev2: )
I became friends with a number of the UAE students including Yousif who was going to be a Ground crewman. I remember at the time he was concerned about what Aircraft the UAE was going to procure. Whichever type was chosen he was going to be sent to the country it was built in for further training.
Now he wanted to go to America rather than France so was delighted when the F16 was chosen. Of course the UAE also obtained Miraage 2000 anyway so I never did find out if he got to go to America…
FedaykinOh well I will just have to wait for the next AFM attritions section.
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