Reply To: SITREP Podcast Ops Center Series 2 finale

[aztecjaguarParticipant 1568xp 2]

Thank you @oriskany – the photos of the kit with the “starlight” scope are fascinating – I had kind of assumed that the British soldiers had pretty outdated equipment, given all the spending cuts on defence during the 1970s and 1980s, with priority given to the Tank Regiments in Germany, the Royal Air Force and the Polaris submarines.

I remember news report comparing the boots worn by the British and the Argentiniens – the professional elite British soldier had traditional leather combat boots which were not waterproof and so unsuited to the 50+ mile “yomps” across the rainy, cold and muddy East Falkland Island. The Argentinien conscripts, on the other hand, were fresh out of training and were equipped with modern light-weight waterproof boots. The conclusion, the Ministry of Defence needs to wake up and modernize their kit.

Actually, the difference in technology between the Falklands War and the 1st Gulf War only 8 years later does seem more like a 20 year difference (purely from a gut feeling, not based on any facts). Perhaps because new equipment like night optical devices, the guided missiles supplied by the US which you mentioned and rumors that the British were receiving intelligence gathered by US spy satellites, was probably all classified information at the time.

Perhaps also the sight of a rusty, about- to-be-scrapped, aircraft carrier hastily sent out as a part of the Task Force, and the story of the “1950s-era” Vulkan Bomber runs did not suggest “state-of-the art” war technology being available, but played to the British desire to take pride in our WW2 narrative of improvisation, pragmatism and  “make do and mend” but tough-as-nails underdog character.

Perhaps there was some kind of a misdirection / propaganda strategy to allow the Argentiniens think they had the upper hand already and so hope they would not send further reinforcements from Argentina.

Interesting also that after the Falklands War, the British replaced the L1A1 SLR and Sterling SMGs with the Heckler & Koch SA-80.

Anyway, perhaps this a topic for discussion for another day: the advantages and disadvantages of
option 1 – appearing vulnerable by keeping strategic and/or tactical advantage secret
option 2 – overstating your strength and hope to intimidate the enemy into avoiding a confrontation

I guess the answer will almost certainly be “depends on circumstances” but still, it might make for an interesting discussion.