The Super Etendard, the nightmare of the British fleet in the Falklands War – 05/11/2019

The fighters of Super Etendard in the Falklands War were, with those of the Air Force, the nightmare of the British working group.

These French-made planes they fired the five AM-39 Exocet missiles and caused the sinking of the destroyer HMS Sheffield and the helicopter transport SS Atlantic Conveyor.

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The Exocets managed to break the British fleet's anti-aircraft defense with the technique of not programming their attack computer until the last moment. This defense was supposed to be ready to repel the attacks of the Soviet MiG planes.

The Sheffield was the ship the most modern of the British fleet and a key to NATO's strategy in the Cold War against the Soviet Union.

The sinking of this missile frigate created a triumphalism within the Argentine society and the consternation of the British during the war of 1982. The sinking of Sheffield cost the lives of 30 British sailors.

They became so famous that in Argentina, horses and racing clubs took the name of Super Etendard or Exocet. The socialist government of François Mitterrand refused during the war to sell more Exocet to Argentina and a spy war prevented Argentina from buying them on the black market under pressure from the Margaret Thatcher administration.

The operation against the British ship forced the Argentine aircraft, piloted by Captain Augusto Bedacarratz, to refuel in flight and fly over almost the sea not to be detected by British ship radars.

Then, on May 25, the same plane managed to sink the Atlantic Conveyor and finishedThe alliance between these aircraft and the Exocets will be confirmed. A few years after this military feat, the plane that sank the Sheffield crashed and crashed at the base of Tandil, killing his pilot.

The arrival of these new planes from Sheffield it's a little bit of oxygen for naval aviation that has old Sheffield that do not fly for maintenance and neither an aircraft carrier to take off, although they can also leave a runway. While the air force is waiting for the government of Mauricio Macri with its promise to buy fighter planes, after the virtual disarmament imposed by Kirchnerism.