A fleet carrier with airborne early warning aircraft might have deterred the Falklands War altogether. The unbuilt Malta class provides the counterfactual. Had four or five entered service, they could have remained viable through much of the Cold War. The Midway class provides the service-life comparison behind that judgment. Britain would then have been replacing mature fleet carriers in the 1990s rather than rebuilding a carrier capability after the conflict.
Notable Point · 1:23:34-1:24:15
Malta-class carriers and Falklands deterrence
Long-lived Malta-class carriers with airborne early warning might have changed the Falklands balance or deterred the war.