Britain Protects the Task ForceThe protection of the Task Force was of vital importance. If the Task Force lost even one of its aircraft carriers, or alternatively one of its destroyers. The defence of this Task Force rests on the vital role of the 20 harriers on board the HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible. These harriers, armed with sidewinder missiles, and could subsequently outperform as well as outmanouver Argentinean aircraft trying to distrubt the Task Force's progress. The Task Force sailed from Portsmouth on 5th April, growing in strength as it travelled. Requisitioned ships were introduced as both troop transporters and supply ships to strengthen the Task Force, however this raised the issue of how to protect the Task Force on its 8 000 mile journey. All support vessels were in essence defenceless, and subsequently Admiral Woodward, in charge of the Task Force, decided to introduce both a rendevouz point in the neutral mid atlantic ocean, and also an exclusion zone around every vessel sailing in the Task Force. |
Woodward firmly believed that no invasion could take place without first establishing air superiority. The Black buck raids eliminated the threat of any aircraft launching from the Port Stanley airport to engage the Task Force, meaning all attacks must come direct from Argentina.
Argentine pilots only had five minutes of combat time to be able to safetly return to their respective airbases. Argentine planes were helpless to respond to the sidewinder missile, which tracked the heat source provided by the jets of their aircraft; providing a stronger tracking point through any evasive actions they might perform. In this conflict 67 sidewinder missiles were launched, 67 destroyed Argentinean planes, over half the Argentinean airforce before the Task Force had embarked a landing on the Falkland Islands, the British did not lose a harrier in this opening stage of the conflict. |
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