Modelling > Falklands War/Guerra de las Malvinas 30yr Tribute GB

Falklands / Malvinas Air War Scenes - Bloody Thursday - 27th May 1982

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JP Vieira:
My 1982 what-if scenario

In my Falkland/Malvinas war scenario there are some changes to both countries and what equipment they used.
The major differences affect Argentina.

Argentina
In this scenario, Argentina is a non-aligned country with close relations to the non-aligned bloc and specially (for this scenario) with the Soviet Union.
Argentina is not a Communist country and maintains also good relations with the Western Bloc.
Argentina is one of the main (perhaps even the major) partner of the USSR in South America.
These relations are reflected on the equipment used by the armed forces of Argentina that are equipped with both Western (particularly French) and mainly with Soviet hardware.
Due to the fact that Argentina is the closest partner of the USSR, the government of the South American country is able to purchase the most modern Soviet equipment, sometimes even better than the versions supplied to some Warsaw Pact countries.
Being able to access some of the most advanced Soviet equipment, the Argentina Armed Forces began a re-equipment program in the late 1960’s that extended to the late 70’s and early 80’s.
The Air Force and the navy are equipped with modern aircraft and, in the case of the navy a force of two aircraft carriers: the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (a CATOBAR equipped with western aircraft- namely the Dassault Super Etendard ) and the ARA Mar de Plata (a Kiev class aircraft carrier equipped with the Yak-38 Forger).
At the time of the conflict, the Argentina Armed Forces are a relatively modern and sizeable force, equipped to fight a limited conflict with almost any country in the world.

UK
The armed forces of the UK are mainly equipped to fight a hypothetical war in Europe against the Warsaw Pact, but also to maintain British presence around the world.
More relevant to this scenario, the UK maintains a respectful force of aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
The Royal navy is equipped with2 of the older (but modernized) Audacious class CATOBAR aircraft carriers; these aircraft carriers have an air wing equipped with the McDonnell-Douglas F-4O, Phantom F.3 (as the main Fleet defense interceptor) and the Blackburn Buccaneer S.3.
The Royal Navy also has 2 amphibious assault ships (of the Oceanic Class) equipped with Sea Harriers (of the RN) and Harriers (of the Royal Marines and, for this mission, RAF) along some transport, assault and ASW helicopters.

JP Vieira:
15th of May 1982 – First VTOL vs. VTOL aircraft dogfight

In 1976, Argentina negotiated another important arms deal with the Soviet Union.
Among the new items purchased were the first VTOL Jets to equip the Comando de Aviación Naval (COAN) of Armada Argentina, the Yakovlev YaK-38 Forgers.
The YaK-38s were brought to serve aboard the new Aircraft Carrier ARA Mar de Plata (a Kiev class ship).
Following the Invasion of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, the ARA Mar de Plata and its air wing were deployed to the surrounding waters of those islands and began mounting CAP and reconnaissance missions.
With the eminent arrival of the British Fleet, some of the Forgers were forward deployed to land and began to operate from the island Air base.
Usually the Forgers operated in pairs and were under strict Ground Control command.
In the mid of May, the British task force was planning to launch a major  aerial attack on the Argentinian held island positions; one of the first stage was an early morning reconnaissance mission to be flown by two Sea Harriers.
Under heavy jamming, the two Sea Harriers manage to arrive at the islands undetected and started their reconnaissance mission.
At about the same time some Argentinian aircraft were also conducting patrol missions, among them a pair of YAK-38.
Due to the heavy jamming, the Forgers had trouble getting information’s from the GC command and decided to abort their mission and return to the Air Base.
The two flights met each other and a rapid dogfight followed.
Although each of the opposing jets was able to achieve some superior positions to fire, the opponent’s agility prevented it from being shot down.
Due to their limited fuel, the Forgers were forced to break and the Sea Harriers were not able to pursue them because they were warned that some other Argentinian fighters (possible MiG-23s) were heading that way.
As so, the first VTOL vs. VTOL dogfight finished without any victories.
Following this encounter, the Yak-38s were removed from CAP missions and were only used in CAS missions until the end of the war.

GTX_Admin:
That is some stunning artwork!

JP Vieira:
Thank you.
Some more soon ... ;)

Logan Hartke:
That's lovely, JP!  Well done!

Cheers,

Logan

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