The British government felt that Stanley airfield was not the best option for a large, permanent base and decided to construct a new RAF station and make it the centrepiece of considerably strengthened air defences for the Falkland Islands,
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. This was intended to deter any future Argentine attempts to take the islands by force. Mount Pleasant, to the west of Stanley, was chosen as the site for the new station. The construction, which had extraordinary challenges to get materials on site, was undertaken by a
Laing-
Mowlem-
ARC consortium.[SUP]
[6][/SUP] The airfield was opened by
Prince Andrew (who served in the
Falklands War) on 12 May 1985,[SUP]
[7][/SUP] and became fully operational in 1986.[SUP]
[8][/SUP]
Flights of Phantoms were rotated through the base until 1992 when they were replaced with
Tornado F3s. The Tornado was replaced by the
Eurofighter Typhoon in September 2009. These have been supported throughout by
C130s and, since 1996,
VC10s, equipped for
aerial refuelling, transport,
search and rescue and
maritime patrol.
A flight of
Westland Sea King helicopters for support and
search and rescue has been based at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.