The SAS vs the Exocet

When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in April 1982, A British Naval Task force was dispatched to the South Atlantic to recapture them. The Argentine Navy had no anti-submarine capability and so was effectively out of the war due to the presence of British Nuclear-powered submarines in the region. The main threat to the British flotilla came from the Argentine Air force. Of particular concern were the newly acquired Exocet anti-ship missiles. These French-made sea-skimming missiles were known to be highly effective and hard to defend against. The Argentine Super Etendard was known to be capable of firing the missiles. Operating from the Rio Grande Airbase on the Argentine mainland and able to reach the British task force, it was not long before they began to mount attacks.

When HMS Sheffield was hit and disabled by an Exocet, fear arose within the task force and at home that the Exocet could cause an humiliating defeat. The British believed that Argentina had around 5 Exocets in its Arsenal. If just one hid one of the 2 carriers in the task force, the war might be lost.

To counter this threat, the British Secret Services, the SAS and the SBS were called in.

MI6 Operations

Whilst plans were drawn up to neutralize the existing missiles in the Argentine inventory, MI6 were tasked with ensuring that Argentina could not get their hands on any more. Posing as black market weapons dealers, British agents endeavored to buy up all the Exocets on the open and black market. The agents also offered black market exocets to Argentineans in order to waste their time and resources on wild goose chase to buy them.

Operation Mikado

Map of Tierra del Fuego

B Squadron of the 22nd Special Air Service were ordered to draw up plans to destroy the exocets, and the planes that could deliver them on their airbase on the Argentine mainland. Brigadier Peter de la Billiere, the then head of 22 SAS, inspired by the Israeli operation at Entebbe, proposed to use 2 C130 Hercules to fly B Squadron directly from Ascension Island onto the Argentine Rio Grande airbase at Tierra del Fuego. Once on the ground, the 60 or so SAS men, on foot and supported by armed Land Rovers, would assault the airfield, destroying any aircraft and Exocets present. They would also storm the Officer's mess, taking out the pilots. Following the attack, the SAS would then escape and evade to friendly Chile, either on the C130s, if they survived, or on their own.

An 8-man reconnaissance SAS unit boarded a stripped down Royal Navy Sea King and flew from the Task Force towards the Argentine Mainland. The plan was to put the SAS team ashore who would then march to the air base, put in an OP and send back intel on the defenses. The e Sea King barely had enough fuel to reach the mainland and the 3-man air crew knew they would have to ditch the helicopter after landing.

As the Sea King approached the Argentine shore they were picked up by search radar. The Sea King vrew then spotted signal flares being fired, suggesting that Argetnine land forces had spotted the helicopter. Running low on fuel, the Sea King headed for Chile where it landed, a few kilometers over the border. The SAS patrol commander decided to abort the mission. The Sea King crew subsequently ditched the helicopter in a lake. The British tried to cover up the real purpose of the mission by claiming that the Sea King had suffered mechanical difficulties and had to make an emergency landing in Chile.

B Squadron began practicing for the assault operation, code named 'Operation Mikado'. Dry runs against British airfields began to highlight problems with the plan. The large C130s would appear on the target bases;s radar screens, giving the defenders ample time to prepare to repel the attack. This was true even with the C130s flying at tree-top level. To land on the runways, the lumbering cargo planes would have to slow to around 100 knots, making them easy pickings for AAA cannon or surface to air missiles. The Argentines might simply block the runways with vehicles.

Another problem was that a lack of on-site intel would mean that there would be no guarantee that the Super Etendards or the Exocets would even be at Rio Grande when the assault force arrived. The SAS would also have no idea where the Exocets were kept or even where the pilot's mess was situated.

It soon dawned on both the SAS and the Thatcher administration that Operation Mikado would most likely fail and would be a propaganda disaster for the British.

But still the threat from the Exocet remained., and British losses mounting. The SAS prepared to put in a plan B. Another SAS team planned to insert onto Tierra Del Fuego on gemini inflatables launched from the deck of Royal Navy submarine HMS Onyx, surfaced off the coast. The 24 or so SAS men planned to sneak onto the air base, placing explosives on the parked planes, Exocets and pilot's mess. They would then escape on foot to Chile.

Before the plan could be carried out, the Argentineans surrendered at Port Stanley and the war was over. It later transpired that Rio Grande was defended by 3 battalions of Argentine Marines. Any SAS attack on the air base would most likely have ended in failure.

SBS Operations

In ex-SBS operator Duncan Falconer's memoirs, First into Action, the author describes how the Special Boat Service were involved in the effort against the Exocet. When MI6 discovered that a shipment of Exocets bound for Argentina were onboard a cargo ship moored in a foreign harbor, the SBS were tasked with destroying it. SBS divers were to swim into the harbor and place limpet mines on the ship's hull with the aim of sinking it. The mission was apparently called off at the last minute when it looked as if the campaign on the islands was drawing to a close and it was calculated that the missiles would not reach Argentina in time to be of help to the Argentineans.

It's also been reported that the SBS would have piloted the Gemini inflatables carrying the SAS strike team for the aborted attack on the Rio Grand base, outlined above.

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