From New Wars:
I often insist that because airpower today is so effective, you can do more with less. Nothing is more glaring proof of this fact as a mere 4 Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters are currently guarding the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. While the Navy would certainly be on call in force should the unthinkable happen, invasion from the Argentine mainland, the Mount Pleasant Airport, constructed soon after the 1982 Conflict would be the key to the island’s defenses.
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My Comment: I closely followed the news when the Falklands War broke out, and at the time there was a considerable amount of commentary in both the UK and US press that if the RAF had positioned a few planes and an airfield coupled with the proper radar detection and early warning stations .... the Argentinians would never have invaded.
30 years later .... that lesson appears to have been learned (to a certain degree).
On a side note .... I will always remember asking my father (a man who witnessed more war than anyone that I know) on who did he think was going to be the eventual winner in the Falklands war. At the time the British were just assembling their fleet, and the Argentinians were busily positioning thousands of troops and equipment onto the island to repulse the impending British onslaught.
His answer was blunt .... the British were going to destroy the Argentine military. I must admit that this did not make sense to me, the US/Canadian press were not optimistic that the British were going to be successful, and the Argentinians with their Latin American allies were boasting that the British were going to lose.
Pressing further, I asked him on how sure he was, and why. His answer was simple. The British have been fighting wars for centuries .... they know what war is all about, they know how to fight it, and more importantly .... they know how to defeat the enemy. On the other hand the Argentine military know only one thing .... how to stage a coup d'etat and how to terrorize their own civilian population. The last thing that they know is how to fight a war.
30 years later I am a much older and wiser man .... and (sadly) it is only now that I can appreciate how brilliant my father was when it came to understanding warfare.