Reply With QuoteI am sorry but Ordie and the chest beating Latins piss me off...I went to CTC with guys who trained us who had beaten a far more well equipped force in short order.
Oh and I think your own brand of Left wing crap is not welcome but accepted Ordie. In military terms Argentine forces have no real ability to re take the Falklands. Your buddy Chavez is a clown and I would be surprised if the V Armed forces wanted to try it's hand. But Ordie...what is your very informed idea as to the forced Landing capability of the massed Latin American forces?Originally Posted by Ordie
Trafalgar and Astute classes will be quite enough don't you think?
I am sorry but Ordie and the chest beating Latins piss me off...I went to CTC with guys who trained us who had beaten a far more well equipped force in short order.
That discussion is finished. Apart from courting convtroversy, and baiting, there is absolutely no purpose to derailing and cheapening this thread.
In that case I apologise to the board.!
Seems Fox is becoming a little weary of the constant ''omfg what about the Falklands...!!'' comments regarding the defence review
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“We have no plan to retake the Falklands, because we don’t plan to lose them”
The incident occurred in the House of Commons and involved UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox and Labour MP Thomas Docherty, as was reported by James Kirkup in the Daily Telegraph.
Liam Fox is in the Commons talking about the Anglo-French defence deal struck this week during the PM David Cameron and French president Nicholas Sarkozy summit in London.
MP Thomas Docherty asked a well-worn question about Britain’s ability to defend the Falkland Islands in future. After all, UK won’t have a working aircraft carrier until 2020, and will even then frequently have to rely on a French carrier when the Royal navy is in dock for maintenance.
It’s a familiar question for Dr Fox and he is well used to answering it. Indeed, he started in the usual way. “The defence of the Falkland Islands depends on our ability to deter,” he said pointing out that the Tornado fighter-bombers and hunter-killer subs are on hand to deter any future Argentine aggression.
But then he went further, and said this:
“There are those who ask, ‘Do we have a plan to retake the Falklands?’ No more than we have a plan to retake Kent, because we have no intention of losing it.”
Kirkup ends the anecdote with a brief comment: “Hmm. I see the point he’s making there. But I wonder, given how excited people can get about the Falklands, whether it was wholly prudent to suggest that Britain has no plan for retaking the Falklands…
- Mercopress
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In reality, and as discussed here, the MoD has plans to repel and invasion, and plans to disrupt an invasion in progress.
They would always have a plan, glad they are showing a firm stance. It would be the end of the government if the Falklands were invaded again, especially by a third rate military force.
^^
Hmm ... Fox´s were not the best words to be used regarding this topic.
So far we were used to the well known Argentine domestic-and-at-the-UN claims, but some months ago those claims are being replied by British gov. officials.
I wonder why that´s happening from the British side, which so far limited itself to either ignore or provide a "formal" reply. I posted some months ago a FIG´s statement, highlighting it because of the friendly and even hopeful words they used, but the last months have shown a singular increase in terms of verbal references.
The FIG always talk about Argentina whenever they go to the UN. The UK Gov't tend to keep very quiet other than to state the right to self-determination, taking the view that the hissy-fits are best simply ignored.
Fox's comment was an off-the-cuff, frustrated reply to a question. It was not a strategic statement of the sort that might be made at an international forum. It should be noted that Hague, Fox and Cameron are all far tougher when it comes to foreign affairs than their Labour predecessors.
Yes, but the last FIG statement was quite encouraging anyway.
Last edited by armored_diplomacy; 11-05-2010 at 05:02 PM. Reason: original post was to optimistic to be true : (
Contrary to popular opinion in certain quarters, the FI want a positive relationship with Argentina, perhaps akin to the 1970s.
We maintain an unnatural condition in the islands, and I'm not talking about demographics but about commerce, industry, and transport. It's a case the FIG has been making for years, but it's impossible to reason with unreasonable people, who have a vested interest in demonising and translating the routine into the conroversial.
The end is not remotely in sight.
Typhoon FGR4 on Quick Reaction Alert, RAF Mount Pleasant, November 2010.
QRA Tornado F3, RAF Mount Pleasant, circa 2007.
HMS Scott returns to the Antarctic
A Military Operations news article
25 Nov 10
The Royal Navy deep-water survey ship HMS Scott has deployed to the Antarctic 100 years after her eponym Captain Scott's final expedition to the area.
HMS Scott leaves Devonport early this morning
[Picture: LA(Phot) Dan Hooper, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
HMS Scott left Plymouth early today for what will be her second deployment to the region; her aim will be to demonstrate the UK's ongoing commitment to the Antarctic Treaty during the austral summer of 2010/11.
The UK was the first state to ratify the treaty, which came into force in 1961, and remains committed to upholding its core values of preserving the continent for peace and science.
During her deployment to the region earlier this year HMS Scott, based at Devonport Naval Base, surveyed 3,000 miles (4,800km) of uncharted ocean, and provided information for the safety of navigation and entirely new seabed views of interest to scientists, including newly-discovered undersea volcanoes.
The ship's current mission will again be in support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Antarctic Survey. HMS Scott will provide data for the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office using her state-of-the-art multi-beam sonar system to collect information in the data-sparse waters of the Antarctic.
HMS Scott is built to sail through ice only up to 80cm thick and is, therefore, not officially an ice-breaker.
The ship's Commanding Officer, Commander Gary Hesling, said:
"The fact that HMS Scott can undertake useful and valuable tasking, despite not being an ice- breaker, shows the utility and flexibility of the Royal Navy. It could be no more fitting that HMS Scott, named after Captain Scott, is to conduct operations in the Antarctic in the 100th anniversary year of Captain Scott's final Antarctic expedition."
HMS Scott departs for her second deployment to the Antarctic
[Picture: LA(Phot) Dan Hooper, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
At 13,500 tons (12,250 metric tonnes) HMS Scott is the Royal Navy's deep-water ocean survey vessel and the sixth largest vessel in the fleet. Her size is a consequence of her unique sonar, capable of surveying the deepest oceans in continuous lines of up to 400 miles (640km) in length.
The ship completed survey operations in the North Atlantic during the summer and, in preparation for this deployment, recently undertook a package of training with the staff of Plymouth-based Flag Officer Sea Training.
HMS Scott was commissioned in 1997 and has a crew of 78. She operates a crew rotation system whereby 52 are onboard at any one time during a standard 35-day operational cycle. The remainder of the crew take leave and by operating in such a manner the ship maximises her operational availability and effectiveness by being at sea for 307 days per year.
The UK has long-term strategic, scientific, environmental and sustainable resource management interests in the Antarctic, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the wider South Atlantic.
By taking a leading role in the Antarctic Treaty system, through a policy of presence, governance and commitment to deliver our international obligations, the UK protects its interests and sovereignty.
The UK's claim to the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is the oldest in Antarctica dating back to letters patent issued in 1908. Claims lodged by Argentina and Chile in the 1930s and 1940s largely overlap with the BAT.
Other states which claim territory in Antarctica are Norway, Australia, France and New Zealand. Article IV of the Antarctic Treaty deals with territorial sovereignty and effectively places in abeyance all such claims, recognition and non-recognition of claims, and precludes any activity to assert any new claim or enlarge any existing claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.
- Ministry of Defence
A little bit of "heart and soul" from Gloucester
29 November 2010
HMS GLOUCESTER gave her big gun a run-out with 50 salvoes in support of routine exercises in the South Atlantic.
Exercise Cape Bayonet is a regular test of the abilities of all three Services to work together to protect the Falklands.
And a Type 42 is just the ticket for a spot of Naval Gunfire Support.
The target area for the Fighting G’s main gun was a 200m by 200m square, eight miles inland and over a hill – completely invisible to the ship.
Gloucester was reliant on spotters from the Coldstream Guards, the current Roulement Infantry Company in the South Atlantic, to feed back how accurately the rounds were dropping, trusting that they would have it in their own best interest to give the right directions.
Gloucester’s Gunnery (and Ops) Officer, Lt Tom Rowley said: “Shoots don’t get much more technical than this.
“It was a tactical shoot, so all about responding to what the troops wanted. And if you’re wrong, you can be very wrong.
“They can see where all your rounds are falling, and they’ll walk you in closer and closer if they’re happy.
“By the time we’d fired 30 salvoes on target, they’d brought us in to about 600 or 700 yards of their position, so they must have been feeling the love.
“A high-effect round will really do some damage, as it’s explosive, either on contact or in the air, depending on the type, so you definitely do not want it dropping too close.”
Lt Rowley was still pleased with himself a couple of days later, when he received the official feedback from the spotter – several grids of tightly-spaced Xs.
“I’m chuffed to pieces with that,” he said. “If that had been a tank detachment, we’d have knocked seven bells of something out of it.”
As for his boss, CO Cdr David George, well he’s a gunbuster at heart.
“There is nothing – nothing – that gladdens a captain’s heart more than ‘firing for effect’ on the 4.5.
“Gunnery is the heart and soul of the Royal Navy.”
- Navy News
From Wikileaks,
the USA was concerned about the reaction of Argentina to oil and gas exploration activities in FI waters, and the country's increasing rhetoric towards the islands.
[The State Dept.] also requests if there is some kind of debate between the Argentine military, or inside Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's government about possible actions, “by their own or with other regional allies, such as Venezuela.”“We would appreciate you inform us [the US State Dept.] how we can anticipate the Argentine reaction including possible military actions”. To this effect they ask for any information on any discussion on the issue inside the Argentine government or “among military officers”.The above quotes can be found in this article, and I'm working on getting a bit more info.The State Department is interested in knowing “if there are divisions among members of the government or high military commands”. Given the current economic conditions in Argentina, it is possible that they could use the exploration round as an excuse to reaffirm claims over the Islands and the surrounding waters”.
A series of silly videos, showing just how bloody boring it gets on a windswept island with just your colleagues, and a couple of thousand inbred sheep farmers.
RAF Mount Pleasant
RAF Police Dog Section, RAF Mount Pleasant
RAF Mount Alice, Radar Station, West Falkland
REME, RAF Mount Pleasant
Royal Artillery 30Bty (Air Defence), RAF Mount Pleasant
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