But as senior personnel at Mount Pleasant (the Falklands’ extensive military base) were at pains to tell me, for Mrs Kirchner even to attempt an invasion would require a miracle. Our defence cuts have prompted retired generals in Britain to question publicly whether we could hope to re-take the islands as Margaret Thatcher’s task force did. Their successors at the sharp end at Mount Pleasant say it would never come to that, because there is, in their view, no hope of an invasion succeeding. The Argentinian air force is based on the same aircraft that lost the last war. They do not have the range to attack the islands, because Argentina no longer has an aircraft carrier or airborne refuelling capability. The four state-of-the-art Typhoons at Mount Pleasant would make mincemeat of them.
Thanks to cuts, Argentina’s navy has no amphibious capability, so it could not put soldiers ashore in the way it did in 1982. Such ships as it has are obsolete: a picture of a troopship sinking last year while in harbour in Argentina because it had simply rotted away greatly amused Falklanders. If its fleet started to move south from ports in Argentina, Britain could reinforce the islands via Ascension Island in the Atlantic (fighter planes or troop planes refuelling there could get to the Falkland Islands within a day), and — crucially — using the main runway at Mount Pleasant (which did not exist in 1982) before any ships could arrive at the islands. ‘The best Argentina could hope for is a landing by special forces,’ a senior officer told me. ‘But even then, they have got to get here undetected — and whether by sea or air, our radar would pick them up the moment they set out.’
This week I saw for myself the reassuring array of firepower the Army could bring to bear to repel and attack. The Mount Pleasant complex is the main military base and the civil airport, covering several thousand acres 35 miles south-west of Stanley. It is home to around 1,000 military personnel from all services, mainly the Army, and 1,000 support staff. The main strike weapons against an aggressor are the fearsome Typhoon fighter bombers. There is also a Rapier missile battery and other permanently staffed anti-aircraft emplacements around the islands. HMS Clyde — which boasts a helicopter deck, troop accommodation, a 30mm gun and surveillance radar — patrols the waters along with two smaller vessels.
