A new report says a UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) blunder has put the Malvinas Islands, also known as the Falklands, at risk of attack from Argentina, which sees the isles as its own.
According to the Sunday Express, MoD workers are accused of handing Argentina an “invasion handbook” for the Southern Atlantic archipelago after forgetting to encrypt a secret document, and putting it online.
The document details every technical aspect of the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) main military facility on the islands.
The Ministry of Defence removed the data from the website after being alerted by the Sunday Express.
The Mount Pleasant Aerodrome Manual, which states it is supposed to be password protected, is intended for RAF pilots and security-screened civilian contractors who need to land at the base, just 30 miles from Port Stanley.
However, the Sunday Express discovered it was openly available to anyone who clicked its link on the homepage of the “British forces overseas: Falkland Islands and Ascension Island” website.
Details revealed include the exact make-up of runways and thickness of concrete, enabling attacking bombers to know precisely which bombs to use for maximum effect, as well as full operating procedures of how the runways are used at any given time, making it easy for an airstrikes to cause maximum disruption by targeting specific sections.
It also boasts the exact GPS coordinate of every facility, color maps illustrating the hardtop covers of the RAF’s Typhoon fighters and advice as to the best approach in different weather conditions – not to mention the name and personal phone number of every senior officer at the base.
The gaffe is particularly embarrassing as it comes just 10 days after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon confirmed a review of the islands’ defenses with a £280m boost, conceding the dispute with Argentina remained “a very live threat”.
Now Isaac Bigio, London-based Latin America expert, says “Argentina ruled the Malvinas at the beginning and the Argentines were expelled by the British troops in the 1830s at that same time as Hong Kong. The British withdrew from Hong Kong, but they have not yet withdrawn from the Malvinas.”
He told Press TV’s UK Desk on Sunday that “the important issue here is that the Malvinas or Falkalnds are part of Argentina and are part of Argentine maritime areas and like in Hong Kong, Britons need to retreat from that part.”
“I think that Britain has to do something similar it has done with Hong Kong; that is to negotiate over the Malvinas, so it will return to Argentina, while Argentina will warrantee the rights of the British population in that island. And also, the Malvinas should be demilitarized and no nuclear submarines or weapons should be in that area or near the Antarctic because it should be a nuclear-free zone.”
Tensions over the islands still simmer more than 30 years after Argentinean forces seized the islands and Britain sent troops to retake them in a brief war which saw more than 600 Argentinean and 255 British servicemen killed.
The islands lie 480 km off the Argentinean coast and 12,870 km from Britain. About 2800 people live on the islands, where the main industries are sheep farming, fishing and some tourism.
Britain said last week it plans to deploy two Chinook helicopters to the Falklands beginning in mid-2016, upgrade communications and renew the surface-to-air missile defense system which is due to come out of service in 2020.
JAS/GHN