The Airforce says it doesnt need them, and that they have other stuff they’d rather spend the money on, yet they get them anyway? Ok……

Or maybe they’ll just fit her with a new, smaller, island. You have to admit the original was absolutely massive.

The QE Class carriers alone would do the job by then.

A single Astute with a load of Tomahawks would do the job, since all you’d have to do is take out a single airbase or two.

And in the decade it would take the Argentines to build this mammoth aerial armada the Falklands defences also get significantly increased: Full squadron of Typhoons, E3, tankers, greater number of better SAM systems, a SSN permanently on station plus maybe a few FACs to back up HMS Clyde……….

Nah, preemptive strikes are cheaper.

Photos like that are just depressing. 🙁

If I was them i’d look at something similar, with the aim to build one large ship per year, one medium vessel per year and one small combatant per year. This cycle would repeat every thirty years with the result that every Vessel is replaced once every 30 years.

Large Vessels = RFA’s, Amphib’s and Carriers
Medium = Frigates and destroyers (say a ten ship run of AAW ships followed by a twenty ship class of ASW ships, or two classes of 10 ASW ships and 10 GP ships)
Small = MCM, Patrol and Survey Vessels.

Vessels such as Gleaner and the Archers, which cost almost nothing to build would be funded on an as needed basis.

How do you invade with fighters? They land, & the pilots leap out, armed with whatever light weapons they can pack into the cockpit? They’d never get out alive. Or do they eject, & parachute into the desolate wilds, where they desperately try to stay alive while hunted by locals who know the terrain, outnumber them, & have longer-range rifles than anything you could fit in a MiG-19 cockpit.

BTW, the nearest airfield is rather more than 480 km from the significant parts pf the Falklands. From the nearest Argentinean airfield, at Lago Fagnano (which like all the others, does not have room for 500 aircraft, being a small local airstrip for light aircraft) to Mount Pleasant is 652 km. Hermes Quijada at least has a paved runway – 661 km.

Of course, if you want to drop a bomb on some rocks on West Falkland, or Spring Point landing strip (grass, & pretty rough, I think) & fly home, you probably can, but I’m not sure what good that would do you.

BTW, do you think that parking hundreds of fighters scattered around all the airfields in Patagonia with enough runway would go unnoticed? Or training the pilots for them? Or the ground crew? By the time you’ve done all that, what do you think the UK would have put into the Falklands?

I like rhetorical questions. 😛

Overt
1 x Typhoon Squadron
1 x Tornado GR.4 Squadron
1 x E3 Detachment
1 x Brigade of Light Infantry
Several Mentions of SSN’s Operating in the South Atlantic
Several Mentions of Exercises between [insert carrier] and the US Navy

Discrete
Survey’s of recently decommissioned vessels
Speeding up of current refits
Rectification of any defects in operational ships
Requalification of former Harrier pilots who have transitioned to other aircraft types.
Orders of supplies and ordinance for a large scale deployment.

Yeah stretching the current design to allow a stern ramp would be the best way of producing a proven design to fill the role and it would keep bean counters and sailors happy.

How come the RAN have never operated the Westland Lynx as it is most likely the best Light Naval helicopter yet deployed. I do like the A-109 for the LUH role as it is cheaper and is a widely used helicopter in both military and civilian circles. In some ways the fleet air arm is a bit of a mixed bunch they have Seahawks, NH-90, A-109 and Squirrel basically 2 types of medium helo and 2 types of light helo. Seems odd to me and it would be a better idea to standardise on maybe the NH-90 and the A-109.

Thanks for spending the time to find the pictures they really make the point clear to comprehend. Should be a straightforward hull stretch in theory to allow for a ramp and more space.

RAN don’t have lynx because Sea Hawk was chosen instead of it.