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Originally Posted by Targan
It doesn't say that the Argentinians actually successfully occupied the islands.
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The very next sentence seems to imply they saw at least some success.
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Argentina itself withdrew
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Perhaps they didn't hold all the islands, but I would think the majority, focusing on the main settlements is quite likely especially since the BYB states:
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...the British were unable to spare more than a token force for the islands' defence.
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Originally Posted by Targan
Everything else is open to interpretation.
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I absolutely agree.
Maybe the Harrier(s) did spend the entire war on the islands, but the plate specifically states it's from the Royal Navy. My understanding is all RN Harriers were assigned to carriers, which would almost have to be needed in the Northern Atlantic and not sent to a 3rd class battlefield well away from the main action of the war. Therefore, it makes more sense in my mind at least for the Harrier not to appear in the Falklands until after the decisive battle(s) off the coast of Norway in June 1997. This may have been in response to the Argentinian invasion, however as supporting vessels were rather hard to come by at this time, and the existing ground support facilities for the previously assigned Tornados, etc were probably in Argentine hands...
If in the unlikely event the RAF base was still in British hands, then it would make more sense to send Tornados (since logistical support was there already) and the Harriers into Europe (as replacements and where supporting units already existed). Harriers can indeed operate from rough strips (there's about 26 scattered about the islands I think), but they also need specialist support, mechanics and the like which may be a little hard to come by early on (and especially in the latter half of 1997). Yes, Harriers don't actually
need a strip to operate from, but they still need fuel and armaments which need other aircraft or heavy vehicles to deliver. As the Falklands doesn't have much of a road network, that severely limits where they might be found.
Yes, a Harrier could theoretically be launched from the helicopter platform of most ships, but straight out VTOL seriously limits how much fuel and weaponry they can carry. Without an aircraft carrier, they're going to need somewhere on the islands to be fully effective.
As you rightly point out, we don't even know if the Harrier(s) are still there in 2000 - only that three Lynxes are in the area and at least semi active. This of course raises the question of where are they getting their fuel from? My guess is it's not from the North Sea fields and shipped down through the UK - it's too valuable at home. Maybe the Falklands are being used as a stopover by the occasional US cargo ship on the route between the middle east and the east coast of the US? Maybe the UK has done a deal with South Africa - fish for fuel?
One other point is that the token UK force was obviously no match for the might of Argentina, which at the time was not fighting anywhere else (unlike the UK). Therefore, Argentina would have the resources available to hunt down all supporting units for aircraft. From what I can remember, there's a lot of land area admittedly, but it's a fairly barren and open place. A few overflights would probably be all it took to find those support units, or at least narrow down possible hiding places for ground units to check out.
Given that, it seems likely all aircraft and ships would have been withdrawn from the area to prevent their destruction - aircraft support units would have either been evacuated if possible, or disbursed into the wilds to join the partisans/TA.