Weapons of the Falklands War

These are some of the key weapons of the Falklands War used by both sides.

Anti-ship missiles

The Exocet is probably the most famous weapon of the war, sinking two British ships and damaging a third. The missile was used by the Argentine Navy either air launched from Dassault Super Étendard jets and from an improvised land launcher.::"See main article Exocet".The Sea Skua was a British light anti-ship missile, fired from Lynx helicopters, its warhead is only 20 kg compared with the Exocet's 165 kg. However hits from three Sea Skua missiles badly damaged the Argentine ARA Alferez Sobral. ::"See main article Sea Skua".The AS.12 was a French built light anti-ship missile, fired from Westland Wasp helicopters. Like the Sea Skua its small 28 kg warhead meant that it could not destroy ships outright, however it could disable smaller vessels. On 25 April 1982 it contributed towards damaging and disabling the Argentine Submarine the ARA Santa Fe. A total of nine missiles were fired at the submarine trapped on the surface by anti-submarine torpedoes circling just under the hull. Of the missiles fired four hit, four missed and one failed to launch. Two of the missiles that hit the target failed to detonate on impact, instead punching a hole through the slender conning tower and exploding on the far side.::"See main article AS.12".

urface to air missiles

Sea Dart was the British naval medium range Surface to air missile. It proved unable to engage low altitude targets, such as Argentine A4 Skyhawk aircraft and Exocet missiles. However it did achieve several long range kills. ::"See main article Sea Dart missile"Sea Wolf is a British naval short range low altitude surface to air missile, used to complement the longer range Sea Dart. It proved capable of engaging low flying aircraft. ::"See main article Sea Wolf missile"Seacat and Tigercat surface to air missiles were obsolete by the Falklands War, however they were used by both sides during the conflict. The optically guided missiles were not effective, no kills can be attributed to the missiles. However they could be used in San Carlos Water where radar based systems like Sea Dart and Sea Wolf could not operate. Argentine land forces had a number of Tigercat missile launchers, there were several near misses, and possibly one Sea Harrier had its engine damaged by shrapnel from one of the missiles.::"See main article Sea Cat missile"

Sea Slug, a long range, high altitude anti-aircraft missile system of the 1950s, was not used against aircraft but for bombardment of positions near Port Stanley by the Royal navy ships equipped with it.::"See main article Sea Slug missile"

The Blowpipe missile is British built manportable surface to air missile used by both sides during the conflict, its performed poorly - official British reports attributed 9 kills to the missile out of 95 fired. However independent research suggests that only a single kill can be attributed to the British use of the missile, an Aermacchi MB-339 that was shot down at Goose Green on 28 May 1982. Argentine forces shot down a Harrier GR3 on 21 May, probably with a Blowpipe missile fired by Primer Teniente S Fernandez of Commando Company 601 over Port Howard. The systems overall lack of success was probably down to the amount of operator input required to successfully hit a target.::"See main article Blowpipe missile"British SAS special forces had acquired 6 American made Stinger missiles, however the Soldier trained to use the missile was killed in a helicopter crash. By luck the first missile fired managed to bring down a Pucará on 21 May, however the lack of training meant that a further 5 missiles fired that day did not hit their targets.::"See main article FIM-92 Stinger"Argentine forces used Soviet made SA-7 Grail man portable missiles. ::"See main article SA-7 Grail"Roland was a European short ranged surface to air missile. Argentine forces deployed a single launcher to defend Stanley airport, it succeeded in shooting down one Sea Harrier (XZ456) on 1 June 1982 above 10,000 feet (3000 m). The presence of the launcher forced British aircraft to operate above its envelope - typically at 18,000 feet (5,500 m) which severely reduced the accuracy of bombs dropped on the airport. There is also a claim that the system managed to destroy a 1000 lb (450 kg) bomb that had been "tossed" at Stanley.::"See main article Roland (air defence)".

Anti-aircraft guns

Argentine forces deployed a substantial number of anti-aircraft guns around Stanley and Goose Green airfields and these included 15 Oerlikon GDF-002 35 mm twin cannons and 6 Skyguard fire control radars, as well as one older Super Fledermaus fire control system. Some 15 Rheinmetall 20 mm/75 anti-aircraft guns as well as about 20 Hispania Suiza 30 mm guns. [http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Falklands/Argentineweapons.htm] ::"See also Oerlikon 20 mm cannon".

Aircraft and weapons

::"See Sea Harrier, A-4 Skyhawk, IAI Dagger, C130 Hercules, Dassault Super Étendard, Mirage III::seealso|Air forces in the Falklands War

The AIM-9 Sidewinder in its L form was the Harrier's air-to-air missile. It claimed 20 Argentine aircraft.

By comparison, the FAA had the French Matra 530 missile

Artillery and Armour

British forces were equipped with the 105 mm L118 Light Gun as their main artillery and the Scimitar and Scorpion armoured reconnaissance vehicles.

hips

::"See main articles Argentine naval forces in the Falklands War and British naval forces in the Falklands War"

Infantry weapons

British

GPMG or general purpose machine gun.::"See main article L7 (machine gun)".The standard battle rifle of the British army the L1A1 SLR (self loading rifle) ::"See main article FN FAL".The standard British pistol the Browning L9A1.::"See main article Browning L9A1".L42A1 Sniper rifle.::"See main article L42A1".

Argentine

FAL FN FAL (in Spanish the "Fusil Automático Liviano"). [http://www.pmulcahy.com/battle_rifles/argentine_battle_rifles.htm]

FN MAG machine gun, the same as the British GPMG.

References

* Falklands Air War, Chris Hobson, ISBN 1-85780-126-1