Page 105 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

607
aCta
Marsella port and from the twelve planes that Argentina bought, only five arrived as well as
missiles which needed to be calibrated.
The Argentine Aviation had the advantage to operate from bases on the ground while the
British one had the advantage to have aircraft carriers which allowed them to approach to the
operation zone. Their position was between 90 to 120 miles from the islands, their Harrier,
from the aircraft carrier, not only were able to take off several times but also to fly for longer
periods of time (between 10 to 20 minutes) over the target.
Under this condition of attack, the FAS could choose the place, the moment and the most
appropriate procedure. The one who takes the defense position and has not got a system of
early alert has to be in permanent surveillance. This attitude, in aeronautic terms, makes the
surveillance system and the crews weaker.
This disadvantage could become a deficiency for the British Force as its aircrafts Nimrod,
sea watchers, did not operate from the carriers. This problem was overcome by establishing
the squad radar vessels further.
Having these strengths and weakness properly evaluated the Argentine Air force people
knew they were in front of the most difficult alternative of history.
Some pilots thought that only two attacks could be performed. In the first one, half of the
planes could be lost and in the second, the rest, there could not be remaining planes to return.
But if they sank a vessel in any performance, the try would have been justified.
This was not an exaggeration. There had not been such a confrontation, where the vast of
the fire fighters, the Skyhawk, dated from 1062 and its design was old fashion to face a fleet
with the latest technological system of electronic and ballistic missile. Besides, its oldest ves-
sel was more modern than any of our planes except the Super Etendard from the Navy.

air materiaL
Despite operating under limited conditions and demanding the maximum capacities,
the fighter planes performed beyond expectations. Considering the percentage of error, it is
worth saying that the performance of the technicians and the air material availability were
excellent.
But it is worth considering that there was:
• Insufficient of supply equipment to operate from the alternative bases.
• Lack of automatic navigation system in the planes: A-4B, especially to fly over the sea.
• Not enough number of fuel drop tanks for the armed system of Mirage, Skywhawk A-4
and Camberra.
• Only one Camberra BMK-62 had an altitude encoding system and forecast radar. ´
• The Mirage M-5 did not have autonomic starting engine so they depended on ground
equipment to start which was insufficient.
• Lack of counter electronic equipment.
• They were unaware of the consequences of the salinity of the air on long flights or at low
height over the sea and lack of means to prevent the planes from the corrosion.