Falklands

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Member for

13 years 9 months

Posts: 8,306

What with possible oil being found off the Falklands, what, if any, aircraft and ships have we now, to combat a threat as efficiantly as before, should the Argentinians rise up, and try and cause trouble again.

Lincoln. 7

Original post

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 1,558

We have got no aircraft carriers as such,we have no harriers to fly off them,We have no Vulcans to bomb the runway at Stanley and no Victor tankers to refuel them.All the forces we have available in any numbers are in the conflicts elsewhere in the world supporting god knows who else instead of our own interest.

And the Argentinian government have until 2016 at least to take over the Islands,create one large military base with all the reserves and defences it would ever need and also to set up and start recovering the oil to become a very rich nation to buy protection by supplying countries like the US.

I might be being a bit cynical and OTT with this but IF;the Argentinians are really up for getting "their" Islands back (very debateable ownership point for anyone)they have the golden opportunity to do so and there is not a damn thing this government is willing or will be able to do a thing about it depends if the Argentinian government and people would have the will to do something that would stand a good chance of being successfull.

I think the poor Islanders must be going grey and very worried at the prospect.This government will let them down and god forbid it ever happened we as a country (UK)would let them down.

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 1,558

Sadly I very much doubt the government of this country would have the interest or the will to do anything !!!!!!

Member for

13 years 3 months

Posts: 87

Yes Britain's capability to retake the islands has diminshed significantly since 1982 but the ability to defend the islands is much greater with RAF Mount Pleasant and it's Typhoons, the Army units and the RN patrols. Argentina's ability to seize the islands has diminshed even more than Britain's, in 1982 they had a CTOL carrier and a significant amphibious capability, they're both gone.

Even more pertinent is that there is absolutely no appetite in Argentina for a "Falklands 2," Argentines obviously still feel strongly about the issue but that doesn't necessarily transfer into support for military action.

As for the oil, all the test wells so far have barely produced enough oil to fill your petrol tank! Unless someone makes a massive oil find, which looks increasingly unlikely, then I can't see the Falklands becoming a major flashpoint in the future.

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 2,766

Early 83 a Shell survey ship parked at Stanley and we met some of the crew down the pub. One told me that there is a lot of oil offshore, trouble is its too deep and will take new technology to get at it. This information had been around a few years so maybe the Falklands war was not totally 'border' driven.