The Belize case employed an aircraft created for a very different naval problem. Britain developed the Buccaneer as an offset to the Soviet Sverdlov-class cruiser threat. Its combination of low-level speed, range, and precision promised to attack powerful surface ships without matching them cruiser for cruiser. The same specialised Cold War strike aircraft could later provide flexible conventional deterrence ashore.
Notable Point · 1:21:59-1:22:28
The Buccaneer carried an anti-cruiser design legacy
The aircraft used to deter Guatemala had originally been designed as a fast, low-level British answer to Soviet Sverdlov-class cruisers.