As the 'Cold War' entered its last decade, in the early 1980s the focus of Britain's defence posture was clear. The threat lay to the East against the massed ranks of the Warsaw Pact forces. Since its post-war withdrawal from empire, the UK had just a few global commitments remaining. Places like Belize in Central America, where the RAF maintained a small Hawker Siddeley Harrier force to deter Guatemalan aggression. And the Falklands - 8,000 miles (12,870km) from the UK. These South Atlantic islands were barely 300 miles from Argentina and the military dictatorship that laid claim to what they call Las Malvinas.
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