Questions for Falklands Q&A?
Added 2024-11-23 15:10:12 +0000 UTCI am on my way home from about 10 days on the Falkland Islands, having hiked the Great Yomp across the island, visited a bunch of the battlefields, and spent some time with the Falkland Islands Defense Force. So, it seems like a good time to do a Q&A about the place - both the 1982 war and the islands in general. What would you like to ask on that topic?
Comments
Happy Thanksgiving Ian!
Chairman
2024-11-28 13:52:25 +0000 UTCNo, not even a tiny bit. :)
Forgotten Weapons
2024-11-28 11:35:20 +0000 UTCIs there any local sport shooting on the Falklands?
Grumpy Conquistador
2024-11-28 09:48:53 +0000 UTCDo you regret not doing it in full kit like Rob (British muzzleloaders) would have done?
Chairman
2024-11-28 02:18:28 +0000 UTCWhat is the most favorite of cold bewerage in the Falklands?
TJ
2024-11-27 20:16:14 +0000 UTCDid the war have any influence on the SA80 project? It was well underway, but did the perception of needing an assault rifle bullpup get reinforced by how the FAL performed?
Troy Janda
2024-11-25 20:54:50 +0000 UTCThe FAL was used on both sides, how did it perform in the war? And how heavy did it feel during those long matches across the island?
James Steed
2024-11-25 13:13:20 +0000 UTCI remember this conflict very well - I was an 8 year old boy in England and the war seemed very exciting at the time. However, I also remember the news footage of wrecked ships and horribly burnt soldiers and sailors coming home, often with hands covered by plastic bags. It seemed much less exciting then. The cultural and political impacts on both sides lingered long after the war. Years later, as an adult, I heard a lecture by a Welsh Guards vet called Simon Weston, who suffered very badly. He says he actually saw the bomb that crippled him coming through the side of the landing ship. Two films worth seeing, if you can find them - "Tumbledown" (British) and "Illuminated By Fire" (Argentine). They tell the stories of the veterans.
James Walton
2024-11-25 09:10:50 +0000 UTCMy understanding is that "light" weapons (eg: FAL / SLR, MAG / GPMG and portable AT rockets) did OK, despite rough conditions and AA cannon in ground role were effective. But some bigger weapons like the British "Rapier" and "Blowpipe" anti aircraft missiles were less effective than hoped. Were lessons learned from this? Also, it seems that artillery and naval gunfire were devastating. The Royal Navy of course were the only navy providing naval support to land troops.
James Walton
2024-11-25 09:06:31 +0000 UTCWould the British have faired better on the Great Yomp had they all had M16A1s like the SAS?
Mack Culverhouse
2024-11-25 01:32:53 +0000 UTCIs there still a lot of animosity to the Argentinians on the from the locals on the island?
LiteraryAnarchist
2024-11-24 20:24:49 +0000 UTCWhat's the local delicacy and adult beverage? Any favorites out of the food/drink you tried?
Brad & Emily Mitchell
2024-11-24 00:51:01 +0000 UTCWhat do people do for fun on the Falklands?
Austin C
2024-11-23 23:06:13 +0000 UTCWhat was the oldest small arms design in active service during the war?
AC C
2024-11-23 22:42:51 +0000 UTCGiven the prevalence of various wreckage of military equipment on the island, was there any that stood out to you, or any that had a particular interesting story attached to it?
Charles Cannard
2024-11-23 20:43:56 +0000 UTCWhat rifle did the Argentinians use?
John Anderson
2024-11-23 20:26:01 +0000 UTCSadly, I think you’d get a blank stare from anyone under 60.
Bill Brockman
2024-11-23 20:05:53 +0000 UTCI actually like the question! But sadly, I don't think it will fit on a firearms channel. But if Ian wants to take a crack at it anyways, I'll happily hear him out!
Alvin Plummer
2024-11-23 19:45:30 +0000 UTCHaving seen the terrain fought over in the Falklands, do you think having the full powered rifle cartridge of the FAL and L1A1 was worth it over an intermediate cartridge?
z c
2024-11-23 18:58:21 +0000 UTCHave the penguins and sheep learned to avoid the mine fields? and is there active demining still happening?
Edmond Griffith-Jones
2024-11-23 18:21:44 +0000 UTCDescribe the way the ranges of various small arms interacted in the Falklands, with rifles, SAWs, and 40mm grenades on the short end, medium and heavy machine guns longer, 20, 30 and 40mm auto-cannon and anti-armor both short and longer range, and mortar the longest. (Of course ranges of all these vary alot. I'm trying to generalize, perhaps badly.)
Tom DeGisi
2024-11-23 17:51:26 +0000 UTCTo what extent did the British experience of encountering the French Exocet anti-ship missile fired by Argentine jets push navies around the world to develop and adopt CIWS?
Michael Minnott
2024-11-23 17:48:55 +0000 UTCCould you arm a Cold War era army (up to HMG's) entire from nonaligned nations? No NATO or Warsaw Pact nation's firearms.
Michael A Pickle
2024-11-23 17:48:18 +0000 UTCwhat is in place to deter this from happening again? the british navy and army are not what they used to be, post cold war.
david weilbaecher jr
2024-11-23 17:32:07 +0000 UTCHow do you think an army designed to stop the red steamroller adapted in its use of weapons to the very different context of the South Atlantic? Or was 3rd Commando Brig. sufficiently familiar with conditions from its raining for an intended role in Norway?
Oliver Gilkes
2024-11-23 16:55:02 +0000 UTCWhat is the weirdest/most out of place weapon you know to have been used in the war?
Tim Hirst
2024-11-23 16:45:41 +0000 UTCI'd be interested to know if there were any field modifications similar to the L1A1 Bitch as seen in Vietnam. Was any kit brought out just for operations, actions during Falklands. Secondly, in your opinion were the British vehicles deployed during at risk of serious damage? Could deliberate massed rifle fire disabled or destroyed those vehicles?
Leon Peters-Malone
2024-11-23 15:46:44 +0000 UTCwhat were the more common ranges in engagements back then? rather beyond the more common 200 and in? I understand it's a cold windswept place so winds sounds to be one issue on top.
Guido Schriewer
2024-11-23 15:33:22 +0000 UTCWith the use of trenches and bayonets during the 1982 conflict and the return of trench fighting in places like Ukraine today, do you feel like the bayonet and bayonet fighting still has a place in the modern battlefield?
HMS Platypus
2024-11-23 15:29:32 +0000 UTCDid they remove all the Mines that were planted by the Argentines ? Are there still Mined areas you can not walk ?
Thomas M Dunne
2024-11-23 15:24:27 +0000 UTCHave the Islands any unique Kit, or unique considerations for the armed forced there if a new conflict ever arose. (Specificlaly things the rest of the UK armed forces don't typically do or have?)
New Englander in Ole Anglia
2024-11-23 15:20:38 +0000 UTCWhat, if anything, is the general American view of the Falklands War and its diplomatic fallout for US UK relations?
Howard Thomas France
2024-11-23 15:19:03 +0000 UTC1)What was the Funniest Weapon that you came Across in Travels? 2) Which way did you Yomp, the North Route or South Route? 3) Did you get Ajax Bay or the Military Cemetery at San Carlos? 4) what is the Falklands of today like and was the Difference what you expected ?
James Mathieson
2024-11-23 15:15:18 +0000 UTCHaving walked the ground, how do you feel the war would play out today, with modern technology? Assuming the same failures of diplomacy, and assuming the British task force made it to the islands in a pretty similar manner and in similar numbers as they did.
Alex Forsyth
2024-11-23 15:15:11 +0000 UTCThere are stories of British soldiers picking up argentine FALs because they were full auto, did that happen? (History channel/military channel story)
Jeff King
2024-11-23 15:13:00 +0000 UTC
