The source added: “We are in a position where, with the benefit of some of the other overseas territories in the South Atlantic, not least Ascension Island, we would be able to reinforce through there if we had to, in much the same way, Ascension was used in 1982.”
Although any immediate threat militarily is unlikely, an increasingly belligerent Argentina could intensify its campaign of harassment, targeting the fishing industry or the new oil facilities, due to begin production within the next year or two.
In that event, the defence source said: “We regularly review the contingency plans that we have in place, and with the force elements that we have, we know exactly what we can do with them and for how long.
“And it would be up to the Ministry of Defence in the UK to determine whether we’ve got our force posture right, and to determine what else we would need to do to support that.”
Today’s generation of troops in the Falklands take the legacy they inherited extremely seriously, according to defence chiefs.
Argentina is rearming; its rhetoric is on overdrive.
However, the British military say they are staying right in the South Atlantic to protect Britain’s Overseas Territories and their people, whatever the threat might be in the years ahead.
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