The merchant ship Atlantic Conveyor was also sunk by Exocet with the loss of 12 lives. An Exocet strike against HMS Glamorgan killed 14 sailors, although the ship itself survived.
The French government has so far failed to provide any answers to the growing questions about Exocets, which were made by the French company Aerospatiale and launched by French aircraft operated by the Argentine Air Force.
The Ministry of Defense also seems reluctant to ask difficult questions to the French – with whom Britain signed a bilateral defense and security agreement in 2010 – or to the company that took over the missile division of Aerospatiale, which is now developing the next generation of British cruise ships. missiles.
Lord Tebit, who was secretary of employment in Thatcher’s cabinet during the conflict, said: “It will not really hurt the French to explain why they think it is not appropriate to tell us about this.
Sir Jeffrey Patti, who was public procurement minister at the time of the conflict, said he knew at the time that “off-switch” technology existed. However, he did not know whether the French had withheld information about whether they were embedded in Exocets.
He said: “If there were any restrictions on what the British were saying to the French at the time, I think it would be useful – for historical accuracy, if nothing else – for them to reveal it.
Many arms manufacturers include secret “shut-off switches” in their weapons so that they can deactivate them if they fall into the hands of a hostile state and are turned against them. British officials suspected during the Falklands War that France did not want to recognize their existence because it would deter potential buyers of the missiles.
Some have even argued that the French want Exoces to prove its effectiveness in the conflict, as it will increase missile sales.
David Meller, who was energy minister in 1982, said the French should be clean, but added: “I am absolutely and utterly convinced that there is no reason to be particularly concerned about us, there is no reason to say give us the truth, and there is no reason not to expose it in a very Gallic way. “
On Wednesday, HMS Sheffield survivors and relatives of those killed gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to dedicate a new monument to them.
Add Comment