“This is typical of the idiocy that comes from this Administration. Nobody in the Falklands wants to be annexed by Argentina. They’re all Brits. Obama is just miffed at the evil European imperialists. He probably doesn’t appreciate that the people running Argentina are the descendants of European imperialists.”
I believe that the new card to turn up in this game is “oil”. Seems that oil has been discovered within the territorial waters of the Falklands in the past few years. Consequently, Argentina has renewed its interest in “liberating” the Falklands. One positive thing in favor of the Brits should this turn into a shooting war agaIn is I believe the UK now as two jump jet carriers. And they should be better prepared to fend of exercet missiles and such. If the Brits should be successful in putting boots on the ground and are able to defend them from any Argentina air strikes the outcome will be the same as the last go around. Brits will route them.
Camoron decommisioned the harriers back in 2010 so the RN currently has no fixed wing aircraft for its carriers. The new full-sized carriers currently being built will not be ready until the end of the decade at the earliest.
Camoron decommisioned the harriers back in 2010 so the RN currently has no fixed wing aircraft for its carriers. The new full-sized carriers currently being built will not be ready until the end of the decade at the earliest.
Apologies for the late response but you raised a few good points I can expand on.
When mentioned oil, yes indeed, there has been a good deal of exploratory drilling going on. A firm called Rockhopper it seems might be in a position to exploit it and I think some other (UK) firms are now in the process of setting up a newco to try and put this into effect. However, the potential for oil being in the area has long been known and Argentina actually turned down a UK offer in the 90’s (I think) to come to a share agreement and partner up to get the oil. So, we go it alone, and its only many years later we hear them bleating now that the potential for oil has turned into a very real prospect.
As for them invading and taking the FI’s again, its really not going to happen if they go unilaterally. Maybe if they drag Brazil and a few of the smaller tin-pots into the mix, we might find ourselves outmatched. At present, we have several hundred personnel around the FI’s, Army, RAF, and RN assets.
Re the RN’s two new jump jet carriers. Well, sad to say but they aren’t operational yet. We’ve ditched our harrier’s ahead of the eventual arrival of the F35B, so our remaining old Invincible class is just a helo-carrier right now.
Being a fan of all things navy though, I thought it a good time to add a nice link to the ongoing construction of the Queen Elizabeth class carriers. Enjoy :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qeclasscarriers/