The out-of-area airborne-early-warning gap

An interservice dispute framed the airborne-early-warning case: could land-based RAF systems cover naval needs? The argument may have depended less on falsifying maps than on choosing a projection that made distant areas look favourable to the RAF position. Shackletons and Tornados could contribute in the primary NATO theatre, but they could not provide worldwide warning and air defence for an expeditionary fleet. Britain therefore claimed an out-of-area operating role without retaining one of its enabling capabilities. Converting two Sea Kings and placing them in service within 11 weeks after the Falklands War shows how achievable a partial solution became once urgency overcame inertia. The sharper comparison is between those 11 weeks and the four preceding years in which the requirement went unmet.