Margaret Thatcher's Falklands Defense Required Extensive Helicopter Operations on Land and at Sea

摘要

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died on April 8 at age 87, may be remembered militarily for leading the United Kingdom in the campaign to retake the Falkland Islands in 1982, which had been invaded by Argentina's forces in a surprise attack. She served three terms in office and her defining moment could be said to have been during the Falklands War. Her close relationship with then U.S. President Ronald Reagan ensured, after the failed shuttle diplomacy by Secretary of State Alexander Haig, that the United States provided the UK with the latest AIM 9-L Sidewinder missiles for British Harrier aircraft (a crucial contribution) as well as logistical support and the use of Ascension Island (from which the longest bombing raid in history was made-the attack of Port Stanley airfield by a Vulcan bomber over 8,000 miles).