What are the "Daggers"? Delta Daggers? That's fascinating reading. No, they were not American-built F-102 "Delta Daggers".
They were Israeli designed and built derivatives of the French Mirage 5 named "IAI (Israel Aircraft Industries) Daggers".
The IAI Daggers were flown by G6C Escuadrilla II (Grupo de Caza [Hunting Group] 6, Squadron 2) and G6C Escuadrilla III Grupo de Caza [Hunting Group] 6, Squadron 3).
The British carriers could only launch Harriers for CAP patrols and could not launch Haweyes for EAW. The only warning capabilities were the radars on the Harriers that had no "look down" capabilities.
So, the Argentinians flew their Skyhawks and Daggers at wave top level avoiding detection until the last minute and thus managed to score multiple hits on British ships using "dumb" bombs.
Fortunately for the British, the tactic had the disadvantage that the bombs were dropped at such a low altitude that the fuses did not have time to arm and many bombs therefore failed to explode. Even then, the kinetic energy of the impact caused great damage.
Against a U.S. Navy Battle Group, the Skyhawks and Daggers would have been detected as soon as they took off from Argentinian airfields by our Hawkeyes and the F-14 Tomcats would have splashed them 100 miles before they ever reahed the Battle Group.
Thank you for the link and further info. I really had no idea how badly the British fleet got hammered during the conflict. They truly were lucky that many of the Argie bombs did not fully arm.
I may look into that e-book they have available on the F I war.
Against a U.S. Navy Battle Group, the Skyhawks and Daggers would have been detected as soon as they took off from Argentinian airfields by our Hawkeyes and the F-14 Tomcats would have splashed them 100 miles before they ever rea[c]hed the Battle Group. And now there are what, two active-duty F-14 squadrons still embarked? And soon to be "relieved," allegedly, by F/A-18E/F "Super Hornets"?
That leathery crunching noise you hear is the pucker factor operating in all those carrier admirals and four-stripers whose commands are now "protected" by Phoenix-less, shorter-range F/A-18's.
We need some seriously long-range CAP, and the F/A-18 and even the F-35 JSF ain't it. The latter is all about replacing the AV-8's and protecting MEF's and supporting forces ashore. F-35's are good CAP for the amphibs, not power-projection, air-superiority weapons for the Fleet.
Somebody please tell me we have such a weapon on the boards and on schedule to meet any challenge over the Formosa Strait.