Read where batteries were landed but could not afford protection because they had to ...calibrate?acclimate?...Why wouldn't a missile system not be ready to fire when it hits the beach?..And how long would a 1982 Rapier battery take to come on line?...Thinking unit should be ready to go once deployed....Surely the stuff we use now is faster into battle?
A good question poppy...i had a mate in AD and used the RBS and Rapier systems...i rate both systems as portable and effective...not sure about calibrating, but can tell they were designed to be fquickly functional...
The loading of the Rapier eqipment and stores on the task force ships and the subsequent transfer were not well thought of in the rush to move men and goods south. The Rapier was and is a good tool.Fixed Air defence of airfields in those days and the mobile version for the Rhine army were two different missions and tools. Watching Men burn is a good personal account of a Royal Artillery guys personal perspective on Rapier in Falklands and will answer many of your questions. The move to Fitzroy and the settling down of the fixed version as at San Carlos proved problematic for the system. It was not the mobile tracked versions of today or even the mobile version of that period...Paras could not understand why the Rapiers did not fire at incoming aircraft that his Gallahad and Tristram..They were tracked, and missiles activated and fired...and nothing happened...Paras held the operators responsibe and one had to be stopped from loosing a magazine at the royal artillery operatives, many of the ground troops shunned the RA boys for a short while rather than take out their venhom on the lads. One RA op was in tears and withdrawan for the rest of war. Hence the title watching men burn. The system was a great money maker for its maker who still is around today and is involved in many sales to the likes of Saudi and is a household name...Bribe cases have abounded...You will know who I talk of. At the time of Falklands the rapier was even at end of battle and in Mansion house victory parade lauded as the bees knees...It was height of cold war...we could not talk our main airfield defence system down...and folk who should have known better lauded and proceeded to push the system. Yank airfields in UK were contracted to Brits and we suppled them with operators and Rapier for their airfield defence in UK. The sales mattered mored than the effectiveness it seems. It was a fair system it was not an excellent system. Its newer version today is much more robust. I remember well the cynical stories around the system on its live firing at ranges in Scotland etc...I saw the signals being despatched back to its makers...At one point in its early days, it could not be launched in wet weather... The stabilsiers were a once big problem. as were the gyro's I believe. But if a nation is to put all or most of its eggs in one basket...then this is what happens...the system once in use cannot be derided...especially at the height of the cold war. And the makers went on to make a fortune... Personally I'm with the writer of the book...a good man...the story told like a TOM would tell it...Its not nice to see men burning..and know you could have maybe prevented it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-Men-Burn-Falklands-Soldiers/dp/0955285453 A good book from a good guy. From one of the reviewers...I felt my adrenalin levels go up as I read about the deployment overlooking Fitzroy Bay, as soon as he mentioned the system fault tone sounding I knew what was coming and the hairs went up on the back of my neck. And others I wasn't there, but my experiences in the Army make me well aware of how the author probably felt at the moment he pressed the Fire button, as he tracked the the inbound aircraft and got the fault tone. Mack's specialty was Rapier missiles - high tech, anti-aircraft missiles that require very careful handling, very careful transport, and constant re-calibration by technical experts. The missiles did not get the first two all so important types of care in transport on their trans-Atlantic voyage. There would be heavy human cost to pay for that neglect. What does it feel like when you push the button to launch the missile and all you hear is the noise that comes with a malfunction? What does it feel like when men you were there to protect begin to scream as they begin to die? What does it feel like to watch men burn?
My mate was REME attached to Rapier batteries down the Falklands. His battery got the plane that hit the Galahad about 2 seconds after it dropped it's bomb, but too late for the ship.
That was a busy day...If HMS Plymouth had not been engaged by the first dagger formation it would have been a lot worse...If the Daggers had carried on with their mission the Hawks would have been the second bombing run and the disaster would have been complete. This was no lucky sighting or attack...the mission by the Argentine forces was complicated and carried out with great elan and daring. Mirages too were decoying...A later flight of 4 hawks were deterred when the Rapier batteries did their job and made it too hot for them to continue their primary bombing mission on the damaged ships...Meanwhile Harriers were at last taking a toll of Argentine aircraft after an attack on one of the LPD's landing craft. RN submarines had flashed a warning of the aircraft which they monitored on take off...Communications failed. But none the less, the ships should have been offloaded by that time. That is the cause of the disaster, the none operational rapier would have still been so with empty ships...The blame does not lie with the rapier crews. The weapon worked on a good day as evidenced by the later 4 hawk formation being broken up and deterred.
Well said MrU...Question more than answered...Sometimes, the hair stands on my forearms when reading something delicious here... A thrill, thanks man.
