The Falkland Islands is one of Britain’s biggest military bases and as part of the UK was, “entitled to its cut of the defense budget,” Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon MP said on Tuesday as he visited the Falklands for the first time.
Michael Fallon, the British Defence Secretary, has become the first Defence Secretary to visit the Falkland Islands in 14 years. The House of Commons is currently in recess this week and the Defence Secretary’s visit directly follows the visit of four other British MPs to the Falklands.
”The Falkland Islands airport emerges from rock and peat-bog” said The Times in its 11 May edition, the day before the official opening of Mount Pleasant Airport in 1985, thirty years ago last week.
A new report says a UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) blunder has put the Falkland Islands at risk of attack from Argentina, which claims sovereignty over the archipelago and in 1982 invaded the Islands militarily until they were defeated and ousted 74 days later.
United States helicopter operator, AAR Airlift and partner British International Helicopters (BIH) have grabbed a £180 million ($275 million) helicopter deal to support U.K. defense ministry operations in the Falkland Islands.
Members from the opposition addressed a letter to President Cristina Fernandez recommending that in the coming UN General Assembly Argentina presents a resolution-draft calling for the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty claim to be discussed in the assembly and not at the Decolonization Committee or C24.
British military has always had proud traditions of families following each other into service and also offering a chance to make more out of life. Both are apparent in the story of the two newest additions to the RAF Police (RAFP) Section in the Falkland Islands.
The Falkland Islands Government Chief Executive, Keith Padgett, Commander British Forces, Brigadier Bill Aldridge and Paul Wilson from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) for the construction of a new wind farm at Mare Harbour.
The amount spent to protect the Falkland Islands is to fall according to reports in the British media however the Ministry of Defense attributes the changes to ‘accounting policy’ and insists it has the capacity to repel any Argentine aggression of the Islands.
A US member of the House of Representatives is scheduled to visit the Falkland Islands next week beginning Monday. Republican Congressman F. Jim Sensenbrenner has represented, uninterruptedly, the 5th district of the state of Wisconsin since first elected in 1978 which includes most of the state capital Madison.