The 1982 Falklands War was an unusual conflict in modern history. Britain fought a country equipped with a modern and efficient navy, army, and air force. Argentina deployed a range of weapons, vehicles, ships, planes, and helicopters in the battle. It was a proper standup fight, unlike the counterinsurgency warfare that had dominated the previous decades.
The war was costly in men and material for both sides. The right-wing military junta running Argentina decided to redirect public opinion against its rule by launching a patriotic war abroad. The target was two British colonies in the South Atlantic: South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.
Argentina had claimed these territories since gaining independence from Spain in the early 19th century. The Falklands had been British territories since 1833. The population was almost entirely descended from British settlers who had no wish to be ruled by Argentina. Diplomatic tensions had continued for decades, occasionally morphing into military encroachments.
In 1982, Argentina believed that British defense cuts made the region ripe for invasion. They thought Britain lacked the capacity to retake the islands. On the 2nd of April 1982, Argentine forces captured the Falklands after a brief but fierce battle around Port Stanley. On the 3rd of April, South Georgia also fell after a spirited defense by a heavily outnumbered Royal Marines force.
Argentina had seriously underestimated the British. With public opinion firmly behind her, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered a task force to recapture the islands, 8,000 miles from the UK. The war lasted nine weeks and five days before the British achieved total victory.
British forces lost 255 killed and 775 wounded. Argentine casualties were higher, with 649 killed and 1,657 wounded. Argentine air attacks managed to sink two Type 42 destroyers and two Type 21 frigates, plus a landing ship and a large civilian container ship. Many other ships were badly damaged.
The Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and Army Air Corps lost 24 helicopters during the campaign. The Fleet Air Arm and the RAF lost 10 Harrier fighters between them. Britain could absorb these losses and make them good. Argentina was less able to do so.
Defeat was a serious disaster for Argentina. They lost a light cruiser and a submarine. Almost 50% of their air force was lost or captured. A vast amount of military equipment, from small arms to missiles to vehicles and ammunition, was abandoned and captured by the British.
When the Argentine garrison surrendered on the 14th of June 1982, the British captured 11,313 Argentine servicemen. All were repatriated to Argentina within a month. They left behind mountains of weapons and kit.
The Argentine military used some weapons that were similar or the same as those in British service. The standard British battle rifle was the L1A1 SLR, a derivative of the Belgian FN FAL. The Argentinians were heavily armed with the FN FAL full automatic version.
One captured Argentine FN FAL carries the logo of the Argentine Air Force. It was one of about 11,000 captured by the British. Many were the paratrooper version with a folding stock.
According to photographic evidence, thousands of Argentine FNs were simply loaded aboard British landing craft, taken out to sea, and dumped. It seemed a strange and wasteful decision. Selling them would have undermined Britain's domestically produced arms trade.
Some were in fact used. Around 80 allegedly ended up in the British colony of Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic, presumably for self-defense. Many Argentine FNs, their mechanisms welded up, were given to the SAS for use as training implements during SAS selection in the Brecon Beacons in Wales.
The SAS took particular interest in the army paratroop version of the Argentine FN. They took batches of them for use in Northern Ireland. The folding stocks allowed SAS troops working undercover and traveling in civilian vehicles to carry the rifles. The SAS needed more firepower in gun battles with the IRA, which had received AKMs from Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.
The Argentines also used the FM AG, known in British service as the general purpose machine gun, the GPMG. The Argentines also had Browning M2HB 50 caliber machine guns, also used in British service. Both types were taken over and shipped back to the UK. Browning high power pistols in Argentine service were also taken by the British.
Perhaps the greatest trophy was the massive stock of captured Argentine small arms ammunition. Some 4 million rounds of 7.62 millimeter NATO were shipped home.
The Falklands in 1982 had a very poor surface road network once you left Port Stanley. Argentina sent 12 Panhard AML90 armored cars to the Falklands, but they played no part in the fighting and were captured intact at Stanley. The British had no use for the type.
Two were shipped home as trophies. One now resides in the Tank Museum at Bovington. The other is owned by the Household Cavalry Regiment, whose Blues and Royals had served in the Falklands. The remaining 10 vehicles were left to rot, some used as targets. One is currently on display at the Port Stanley Museum.
Of greater interest to some British Army and RAF officers were smart Mercedes-Benz G-Class Jeeps. The Argentinians had shipped in 20 of these as officer transports. Several were covertly shipped home by particular British units for use as runabouts.
One story has a British unit later applying to the DVLA, the British Vehicle Licensing Authority. Their Jeep had no paperwork and could not be registered. The unit contacted Mercedes, who disclosed that the Argentinians had never finished paying for the Jeeps. Mercedes asked for payment or the return of the vehicle.
The British military replied that Mercedes was more than welcome to come and try to take it back.
Other transport vehicles included 20 Unimogs, a type of German light truck, and 100 MB 11, 12, 13, and 14 trucks. Some trucks appear to have been used locally by the British garrison.
Quite a number of intact helicopters were captured. Eight UH-1H Huey helicopters fell into British hands, along with two Argentine Air Force Bell 212s. One example, painted during the war as an Argentine medevac aircraft, was flown for a short while by the Army Air Corps at Port Stanley. Lacking paperwork, it was later grounded, then shipped back to the UK. It is currently on display at the Army Flying Museum.
Two other captured Hueys were also flown by the British in the Falklands for a while using improvised markings. One medevac chopper was restored to airworthy condition and in 1985 entered the civilian market as G-Huey. It is still flying today, including appearing in a James Bond film.
Another Huey was flown in the Falklands by two Royal Navy squadrons before being shipped to Britain. It is now at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton.
Two Augusta A109A helicopters were captured intact. They were shipped to the UK aboard HMS Fearless. After repainting and maintenance, they were issued to Number 8 Flight Army Air Corps. They were used to support SAS operations within the UK, based at Hereford, alongside two other A109s purchased by the government later. All of these helicopters were retired in 2009.
One of the captured A109s has been repainted in its original Argentine 1982 colors and is currently on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.
An Argentine Coast Guard Puma was captured at Port Stanley intact. It was used by the Royal Air Force as an instructional airframe until 2001. It was then fully upgraded to the HC1 variant by Westland and saw operational service in Iraq. It was involved in a flying accident and airlifted back to RAF Benson. Repairs were not sanctioned, and in July 2012 it was transferred to RAF Shawbury for storage. Since April 2014, it has been used for ground construction at Lichfield Barracks.
The biggest helicopter captured was a Chinook built for Argentina in 1979. It was captured intact in June 1982 and transferred to RNA Fleetlands as ZH257, used as a ground instruction airframe. On the 23rd of November 1999, an RAF Chinook had an accident in Oman. The rear rotors and structural pylon were destroyed.
This section of the captured Argentine aircraft was used to repair the damaged RAF Chinook, returning it to flight. That aircraft has the nickname Frankenhook due to its Argentine parts. The rest of the captured Argentine Chinook is currently in storage at an RAF base.
The British captured a number of Argentine naval vessels. Some were sunk as targets. The very damaged Argentine submarine Santa Fe, captured at South Georgia, was taken out into deep water and scuttled. The Islas Malvinas was captured and renamed HMS Tiger Bay before being sold on into the civilian market.
Two Argentine landing craft were also captured intact. One ended up being used by islanders as a sheep transport.
Probably the most useful Argentine kit captured by the British were 15 intact Oerlikon twin 35 mm cannons, called GDF-2, along with accompanying radar. The weapons were shipped back to Britain and used to equip a squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force during the Cold War.
The British also captured Sky Guard and Super Fledermaus fire control radars. Though the guns no longer serve in the Royal Air Force, two of the captured Sky Guard radar systems are based at RAF Spadeadam in support of the RAF's low-flying monitoring task and electronic warfare training.
The British also bagged a number of Rheinmetall twin 20 mm air defense cannons. Several are in museums today, including one with battle damage at the Royal Air Force Regiment Museum.
Quite a number of artillery pieces were also captured. This includes a CIT 155mm howitzer that was dug in on Sapper Hill, one of the defensive positions outside Port Stanley. It was bombed on the 12th of June 1982 by a Harrier using cluster munitions. Damage from shrapnel is clearly visible on the right side of the weapon.
After the war, it was brought back to Britain as a trophy. Today it is on display at the Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon.
In addition to three of these 155mm guns, the British also captured 10 OTO Melara 105mm pack howitzers. At the time of the Falklands War, this type of gun was also in service with the British army. Some came back from the Falklands and became regimental trophies.
The British also captured and shipped home 10,000 105 mm artillery shells, which were compatible with their own army's guns.
The only intact Argentine fixed-wing aircraft captured in any number were 11 FMA IA-58 Pucara counterinsurgency and ground attack aircraft. Of the 11 captured, four were still airworthy in 1982. In total, six Pucaras were shipped to the UK.
One flying example, repainted in RAF colors, was test flown at Boscombe Down before being donated to the RAF Museum at Cosford. Five Pucaras are currently in museums in the UK. One is at Cosford, one at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, one at the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum at Sunderland, and one at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton. The cockpit section is at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in Doncaster.