Falklands combat exposed the limits of missile exercises

In this interpretation, the Falklands were the first naval missile war in which substantial warships on both sides could attack one another with guided weapons. Before 1982, roughly two decades of missile doctrine rested heavily on exercises rather than reciprocal combat experience. Earlier ASDIC trials and air-defence exercises show how scripts produced false reassurance about submarine detection, gun performance, and which ships aircraft would attack. The prewar exercise example also helps explain why a true general-purpose destroyer gun emerged later than it might have. Repetition can make an exercise rule look like evidence even when crews and opponents behave differently under lethal fire. HMS Invincible's Captain Jeremy Black reportedly had to break the practised rhythm of firing two Sea Darts and continue ordering missiles as an attack developed. The larger lesson is that peer conflict permits the opponent to strike back symmetrically or asymmetrically, so wartime decisions cannot be reduced to peacetime training assumptions.