How HMS Sheffield was sunk before Britain was able to activate a Falkland Islands missile “murder switch”

An exotic aimed at the frigate HMS Ambuscade was diverted from the course by using chaff, aluminum strips exactly half the wavelength of enemy radar, which would be an alternative target for the missile but would not cause it to explode.

An Exuscat destined for Ambuscade flew past it, but then locked itself in another ship, the poorly protected merchant ship Atlantic Conveyor, which was hit, caught fire and fell for three days.

Twelve sailors were killed and 10 helicopters were lost, meaning the army did not have Chinook helicopters to transport troops destined to transport them through the Falkland Islands instead of having to march on foot.

Other ships were protected against Exocets with radar-absorbing material, while others used a lure box to hijack missiles.

The size of a tea chest, with sharp edges and a radar signal on a warship, the lure hung from a helicopter just above the maximum height of the missile, so it headed for the lure, but flew harmlessly beneath it.

British experts have found that Exocets scan the horizon from left to right, which means that they can be hijacked if the bait is flown from the left of a ship.

Changing disaster prevention tactics

The British also developed a new tactic unique to Exocet: instead of turning away from the threat so that a missile travels the shortest distance through the ship and causes the least damage (the best tactic against heavy “dumb bombs”) , the ships would face the missile to the extreme, presenting the smallest possible radar cross section of a light missile that would explode on impact.

On June 12, the destroyer HMS Glamorgan was attacked by Exocet, launched from shore about 20 miles away.

With little time to react, the ship’s captain ordered him to turn at high speed from the missile, avoiding a side impact. Instead, the rocket hit the ship’s deck, made a large hole in the hangar’s deck and struck a loaded and armed Wessex helicopter, killing 14 sailors.

However, the ship was not lost and remained combat-ready, although Argentina surrendered two days later.

Now, 40 years later, Mitterrand, Thatcher and many of the key players in the conflict have died, but the questions they left behind still need to be answered.