Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

OPERATIONS BETWEEN VIETNAM AND THE PERSIAN GULF
Figure 75. HMS Coventry. Argentine airmen suffered high losses in the
Falklands War but pressed home attacks that nearly repelled the British
counter invasion.They sank a number of ships, one of which was the
HMS Coventry. (Reprinted from http://www.jove.prohosting.com-sinking/
falklands/shtml.)
but the third scored a direct hit, which sank the ship. According
to the manufacturer, obsolescent radar and computers hampered
the missile. In addition, seas rougher than anticipated
in its design degraded the system’s performance against lowflying
aircraft. 39
The small, short-range Seacat began development in 1958
and is in service with a number of countries (fig. 76). Although
British sources credit it with eight kills, other sources put this
figure at one. The other short-range missile system was the
more advanced Seawolf. Although clearly a better system than
the Seacat, which it was designed to replace, Seawolf was only
fitted on two ships. (Argentine duds hit both.) Nevertheless,
this SAM received credit for downing three to five aircraft and
at least one air-to-surface missile. 40
Regardless of the actual number of kills and the dispute
over claims, the fact is the Royal Navy’s defenses proved barely
adequate; the Argentine air force came close to driving off the
167