Britain's smaller submarine force is a major difference from 1982. Sending a boat south requires one to be free at the moment of crisis, even though the Royal Navy also has standing surveillance tasks in the North Atlantic. A submarine diverted to the Falklands may leave less capacity for watching Russian activity. A regional contingency therefore becomes a force-allocation problem across several theaters.
Notable Point · 3:24:46-3:25:09
A Falklands response competes for scarce submarines
A modern Falklands discussion makes submarine availability a constraint alongside local combat power.