The Falklands

[Mohoender]

I had been doing some research lately on the Falkland Islands as I have them still occupied by UK. I foudn something interesting on the Falkland Islands Defence Force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklan..._Defence_Force
.

[dude_uk]

At the chance of this topic being split into a discussion of the TA during the WW3, Britain Puts its forces first on alert when the Soviets cross the Chinese border in '95.

Britain does stand down its alert in October, not a stretch to keep some of its forces on alert.

[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by dude_uk

At the chance of this topic being split into a discussion of the TA during the WW3, Britain Puts its forces first on alert when the Soviets cross the Chinese border in '95.

Britain does stand down its alert in October, not a stretch to keep some of its forces on alert.

The TA (and, to a certain extent the HSF) is probably well worth a thread of its own imho...

[HorseSoldier]

Originally Posted by Mohoender

I had been doing some research lately on the Falkland Islands as I have them still occupied by UK. I foudn something interesting on the Falkland Islands Defence Force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklan..._Defence_Force
.

The interesting part on those guys really is that they use the AUG instead of the L85, which is logical given the quality of the pre-A2 L85s, but interesting to see FIDF given enough latitude to find a better solution.

[Legbreaker]

They're funded entirely by the Falklands Government and not the British, therefore why shouldn't they chose whatever equipment they want?
Naturally you'd expect them to use mostly British equipment as they're so closely affiliated, but as you point out, the early L85 was a complete peice of crap. You can bet they would have heard all about it from their training instructor.

[HorseSoldier]

They're funded entirely by the Falklands Government and not the British, therefore why shouldn't they chose whatever equipment they want?

Maybe just weird from an American perspective, then, since none of our Nat'l Guard or reserve units have the independence to adopt alternate small arms and the like. (But then even for the NG, 95% of funding is from the federal government.)

[Rainbow Six]

I realise it states in Wiki that the FIDF is entirely funded by the Falkland Islands Government, but I'm not 100% sure how accurate that is.

The Falklands Islands Government's own website states that the islands are self sufficient in all areas except defence, which comes out of the UK defence budget.

http://www.falklands.gov.fk/Economy.html

(It is, of course, possible that the UK contribution refers to the British Armed Forces on the islands and the FIDF are classed separately from that).

Either way, I agree with HorseSoldier...whilst I follow the logic behind the decision, it strikes me as a little unusual that the FIDF would go with something other than the L85...jmho...

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Interestingly, the Falklands Island Defence Force appears to be closer to the US concept of a State Militia rather than a Territorial Army/Army Reserve unit. I figure that's how the Falklands can state that defence is the province of the British government when there is obviously some contribution by the Falklands local government.
That would go some way to explaining why they are equipped the way they are.

The following article details the 150th anniversary of the FIDF
http://www.falklands.info/history/histarticle24.html

[Mohoender]

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

The Falklands Islands Government's own website states that the islands are self sufficient in all areas except defence, which comes out of the UK defence budget.

http://www.falklands.gov.fk/Economy.html

That is in no way surprising. The FIDF is a small force that count between 80-200 members. From what I read, it is strictly a territorial unit taking up a lot of tasks with most of them faling under the domain of civil defense.

In 1982, they were ordered to surrender by the governor but members who had not been taken under custody, played their role as informant/scouts (or so it is said).

The bulk of the island defense indeed comes from UK (RN, RAF and British Army). However, they will be of some interest in the case of T2K. Strictly speaking I have just been writing exactly the smae thing than Stainlesteelcynic.