Hms sheffield - falklands war anniversary

[Gil Boyd]

Sad unecessary loss of life on both sides. Interesting perspective on the use of the Exocet:

Falklands War naval officer joins calls for Exocet 'kill switch' inquiry | Daily Mail Online

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[Lee Enfield]

The Falklands conflict was extremely carefully studied to understand modern air defence theories between (what is today called) "near peer" conflicts.

I believe that the Exocet which struck Sheffield was within the arming distance, and part of the reason Sheffield suffered so much fire damage was that the fuel from the missile contributed to the fire.

[Ovidio]

I think that if France had used the "kill switch" (if it ever existed), they would have committed a sort of political and commercial suicide in terms of arms sales.
Who would have ever bought a missile or a complex weapons system from them ever again?
Better not to have anything like that, I guess.
In case the Exocets had been used against them, they would have known the right countermeasures. But I don't think the "kill switch" existed.
Maybe I'll be proven wrong soon...

[Lee Enfield]

I think that if France had used the "kill switch" (if it ever existed), they would have committed a sort of political and commercial suicide in terms of arms sales.
Who would have ever bought a missile or a complex weapons system from them ever again?
Better not to have anything like that, I guess.
In case the Exocets had been used against them, they would have known the right countermeasures. But I don't think the "kill switch" existed.
Maybe I'll be proven wrong soon...

I agree, the idea of a "kill switch" is a silly idea cooked up by people who don't understand how things work.

I'm sure they have an IFF system, but it has to be settable by the firer.

[Roy W]

As tragic as the whole incident was, there is something to say for letting sleeping dogs lie.

[Simon P]

Chap in our club (recently deceased) was a Lt Commander on the Ardent that went down in the Falklands, it was attacked whilst in the Falkland Sound on the 21st May and eventually sunk the next day with the loss of 22 members from the 199 strong crew who abandoned ship onto HMS Yarmouth

[CINDERS]

Got to hand it to those Argi pilots I was reading a while ago the book done by the Sunday Mail in relation to the attacking of the fleet given the amount of ocean to be covered by the jets at extremely low level to evade detection.
One of the miracle pilots (Mirage) stated that "You had to be very watchful for waves that were 10 feet and over lest you fly into it" they were that low for a long distance the aircraft needed to be washed thoroughly after a sortie to get all the salt spray from the airframe to stop corrosion.
Even the Super Entards did pretty well, I think Thatcher requested she be allowed to dip into the Nato stocks of G-A or A-A missiles fuzzy memory cannot remember if it was the Stinger or the Phoenix someone on here will know
Another thing the aluminium burned very well and once metal like that starts to burn you find it most difficult to extinguish even with foam and the chances of reignition are pretty high given the temperatures involved.

[El Woodman]

From an HMS Sheffield survivor- "Always look on the bright side of life..."

[Fushigi Ojisan]

Have a family friend who's a Royal Navy Falklands vet. He was on one of the two but I don't remember which one.

[Flying10uk]

I believe that I am correct in saying that the Royal Navy operated a surface launched version of the Exocet missile on some of it's warships in the Falklands War, for example, on most of the Type 21 Frigates sent to the South Atlantic in 1982. Perhaps France had a "secret" kill switch on these Exocets too?