Kit-Fox wrote:Point I was making Mez is iit will be a lot harder to take the islands today than it was in '82 and it might not even be possible given the changes we made after '82.
I'd fully expect the garrison there to be able to hold out till help can arrive. Recall that in '82 we didnt have purpose built bases or defences or equipment in the region and we only had a token foce of a few men there, which is why our forces folded so quickly back then.
Now It would be a totally different fight & one that I doubt Argentina would be willing to fully commit to given how fast the body count on their side would rise.
Anywho we wouldnt need the UN, we just have to ask the Argentinian neighbours, who arent on the best of terms with them to help us out
Lets face it folks like Chile dont really need much of an excuse to want to kick the Argies arse now do they
The Falklands are 7500 Miles from the UK, by sea is the only viable method of deployment at such range and its a several day voyage when the fleet is ready to depart, it also takes days to assemble men & equipment before departure when the men & equipment are available on the UK mainland which they are not. If the Argies invade any fixed defs will be bombed within hours, our forces on the islands will have to disperse and will not be able to resist the overwhelming numbers the Argies can deploy under Argentine air support. Our troops may still be alive when help arrives, but they wont be able to stop any invasion.
Last time this happened we had just retired the Endurance, the only Royal Navy vessel that patrolled the area, this time we have retired the Ark Royal, our last Carrier and the only way of delivering air support in any unilateral action. Last time we lost 6 ships & 11 more damaged by air attack even with 2 carriers protecting them, Also the only reason we won last time was UK/US intel agencies prevented Argentina from buying more air to ship missiles, since the cold war ended our intel agencies budgets have been slashed and refocused from hostile states to internation terrorists. With no carriers, far fewer ships, our army and fleet already spread around the middle east and no idea what weapons the Argies have this time it would take far longer the get there and we would not stand a chance doing it alone.
As for Argentine neighbours, they will not intervene directly and make themselves targets, at best they may allow UN forces to use them as a staging area if/when the UN finally stops talking and decides to do something.
Options that would remain
1) Use subs to attack the Argentine mainland with cruse missiles until they withdraw
2) Beg the UN ( US forces ) to intervene on our behalf. Last time the UN did nothing but talk, only the US openly supported our military action but even they did not participate.
Attack Mercs Killed (30) 459,329,001
Defence Mercs Killed (10) 2,918,478,517
Attack Soldiers Killed(60) 12,677,958
Defence Soldiers Killed(20) 226,236,488
Attack Super Soldiers Killed(300) 490,627,262
Defence Super Soldiers Killed(100) 4,131,482,551
Spies Killed(50) 4,256,505,842
Spy Killers Killed(50) 651,022,448
Mothership Weapons Destroyed(300) 35,583,034
Mothership Shields Destroyed(300) 39,498,511
Mothership Fleets Destroyed(200) 2,413,254
Planet Defences Destroyed(300) 358,539
Planets Taken(5000) 411
Naquadah Stolen(0.0001) 2,355,738,435,154,805
Untrained Kidnapped(50) 5,943,886,456
Weapon Points Destroyed (Sab+Att)(0.0001) 74,293,522,376,607
Attack Turns Used(1) 1,731,971
