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  "path": "/news/falkland-islands-argentina-british-armed-forces-sovereignty",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-13T22:30:05.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Membership",
    "Pete Hegseth declares 'not-so-Supreme Leader' wounded and 'disfigured' after missed appearance",
    "British troops come under attack as Iranian drones target Western base in Iraq",
    "US Congress to be given new powers that could scupper Labour's Chagos deal",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nArgentina is rapidly rebuilding its military with one eye on the Falkland Islands, which have been left vulnerable by Britain’s decaying armed forces.\n\nDefence chiefs have been warned the sluggish deployment of HMS Dragon to Cyprus amid the Iran war has exposed the UK’s lack of “credibility” as a global power.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nFormer servicemen, including veterans of the 1982 conflict, have urged Sir Keir Starmer to address the decline of the UK armed forces to preserve sovereignty over the Falklands.\n\nThey warn reliance on international law and the UK’s diminishing soft power will not be enough if a crisis erupts in South America.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nFour decades ago, Britain deployed a task force 8,000 miles south within a matter of days to repel the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands.\n\nThe victorious operation stunned the world and, as Falklands veteran Simon Weston told GB News, “put Britain back on the credibility map”.\n\nHowever, 43 years later, the retired Welsh Guardsman despaired: \"We've slid backwards and backwards.\"\n\nStuart Fawcett, an ex-Royal Navy officer, concurred. His experience led him to conclude the Falklands no longer enjoyed the security it had 44 years ago.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHe told the People's Channel: “We did a defence assessment in the early 2010s on whether we could defend the Falklands if Argentina decided to claim them again and invade. And we couldn't. We couldn't deploy.”\n\nThe 2010 report for the Ministry of Defence raised “particular concern” about Britain’s “much reduced intervention capability” and an inability to “conduct operations on the level of the Falklands Conflict”.\n\nReferring to continued defence cuts since his service, Mr Fawcett asked forebodingly: “What chance do we have 16 years later?”\n\nArgentina’s firebrand president, Javier Milei, said his nation's right to \"Islas Malvinas\" is “non-negotiable”. But the libertarian statesman is seeking a diplomatic solution to annexing the islands, based on the UK's agreement to transfer ownership of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Pete Hegseth declares 'not-so-Supreme Leader' wounded and 'disfigured' after missed appearance\n  * British troops come under attack as Iranian drones target Western base in Iraq\n  * US Congress to be given new powers that could scupper Labour's Chagos deal\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Fawcett said: “We should be concerned about our ability to say no. Our soft power is based on the integrity of our hard power, and we have demonstrated recently that we can't back it up.\n\n“I think if there is a perception that British military might is much weakened, which exists because it is true, then there's always going to be someone who will chance their army.\"\n\nThe United Kingdom maintains a permanent garrison in the Falklands, including four Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets and a rotating infantry company from the British Army, as well as supporting radar, logistics and air defence units.\n\nHMS Forth, a lone coastal patrol vessel, makes up the naval contingent of the island's defence.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nLieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford commented: “Argentina was not militarily capable of taking the Falklands because its military had been so run down over the last few decades.”\n\nNevertheless, Argentina is currently embarking on its most significant military modernisation effort in decades. Mr Milei said he is in talks to end a post-war arms embargo against his nation, which Downing Street strenuously denies.\n\nBuenos Aires has acquired 24 refurbished F-16 Fighting Falcon jets from Denmark to restore its supersonic fighter capability, with the first batch delivered in December.\n\nAdditional purchases have included transport aircraft, modern helicopters, drone capabilities, new tanks and troop carriers. The Argentine Navy also explored the possible acquisition of modern submarines, including the French-designed Scorpène-class.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n“The Argentinians are rearming and they are getting more sophisticated, more modern weapons,” Lt Col Crawford observed.\n\nHe agreed Britain’s Falklands deployment was not inconsiderable, but would be unable to defend the islands against a modern foe without immediate reinforcements.\n\nThey pointed to the case of HMS Dragon’s glacial deployment in response to a recent drone attack on Britain’s Cypriot sovereign base, RAF Akrotiri, as damning evidence.\n\nMr Weston questioned: “How ridiculous does Britain look and the British military look with the debacle that's gone on over Dragon? How minuscule does our influence look on the world if we can’t support our people at this moment in time?”\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe Royal Navy now operates just 19 major surface warships, down from more than 40 in the late Cold War era.\n\nHMS Prince of Wales is Britain’s only deployable aircraft carrier, with HMS Queen Elizabeth docked in Portsmouth for extensive repairs. The predecessors of these huge ships, with destroyer and submarine escorts, were critical to victory back in the 1980s.\n\nThis “pathetic” modern capability means much of the fleet is often tied up in maintenance cycles and other global commitments, leaving it unable to respond rapidly to crises.\n\n“We shouldn't be seeing the degradation of armed forces over many years at the hands of different governments,” Mr Weston stressed.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Weston, who was left with life-changing injuries after his transport ship, RFA Sir Galahad, was bombed by an Argentine jet, explained his survival and ultimate British victory owed to the armed forces operating at their “optimum”.\n\n“We have to have all those branches at their optimum, not at their minimum,” he told Britain's News Channel.\n\nTo that end, he insisted a revival of Britain’s defences was imperative.\n\nHe commented: “I think having been there, having nearly lost my life, we have to do the right thing at the right time. The right time is NOW. It's never tomorrow. It's now; if we don't do it now, what do we say to people? What do we say to families?”\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHowever, this support meant more than just fighter jets and battleships, but the essential support services on which Britain’s power projections rely.\n\n“Without the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, we wouldn't have been able to sustain the campaign,” Mr Weston revealed.\n\nThe RFA provides logistical and operational support to British deployments worldwide. In 1982, it helped transport ground troops, supplies and fuel to the Falklands.\n\nHowever, the fleet's capabilities have been drastically reduced by early retirements of vessels. Meanwhile, chronic personnel shortages mean the ships left are often unable to set sail.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Fawcett despaired: “We’ve also had to chop the RFA, which does all the fuelling and logistical support, and that's really struggling. The RFA is in s**t state.\"\n\nThe role of the United States may also prove pivotal in the future of Britain's claim to the Falklands.\n\nUnder Ronald Reagan, Washington supplied intelligence, satellite imagery, logistical support and base access to British forces.\n\nHowever, Donald Trump's administration has close ties with Mr Milei's office, supporting and financing its rearmament, including the recent fighter jet procurement.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSome fear the current frosty Anglo-American relationship could mean Mr Trump may take the side of his southern neighbour over his “once great ally”. “We have no credibility with the United States whatsoever,” Mr Weston stated.\n\nMr Fawcett questioned: “Is America going to back us up? When did we last back them up?”\n\nMoreover, he called on the UK to be realistic about the potentially solitary position it would face in defending its sovereignty over the Falklands and to plan accordingly.\n\n“If we think the rules-based order still exists, we're kidding ourselves massively,\" he stressed. \"As soon as Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the rules-based order went out the window.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n“Right now is where you decide on which side you're on. And you're either going to stand by your sword, or you're going to drop it.”\n\nThe Falkland Islands Government emphasised the territories “are well defended, and we have every faith in His Majesty’s Armed Forces to deliver our defence and security”.\n\nJack Ford, chairman of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly, added: “The Falklands are a self-governing democracy, and we are content that the UK Government remains committed to the security and prosperity of our Islands, and promoting our rights – a position which has cross-party consensus across the UK political spectrum.”\n\nThe Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Argentina scales up military amid fears over Britain's sovereignty of Falkland Islands: ‘We have no credibility!’"
}