The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 3

militarily critical to the desired outcome. Centres of gravity may change during the course of a

campaign. Commanders must also be open to the possibility that the wrong centre of gravity may

have been selected during planning. Centres of gravity should therefore be reviewed throughout a

campaign as understanding evolves of the relationship between cause and effect within a conflict.

Centre of gravity in the South Atlantic

Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982. Britain responded rapidly by

despatching a task force to retake the Islands. The Argentinian Armed Forces had 220 jet aircraft.

The British Task Force had 34, all Harriers. Control of the air was vital to enable amphibious landings

and provide the freedom of manoeuvre for surface forces. Initial planning showed that even after a

successful reoccupation of the Islands, the Royal Navy would have to retain two aircraft carriers in the

South Atlantic for several weeks, and probably longer. The only hard-surface runway in the Falklands,

at Stanley, was not long enough to operate fast jet aircraft and could not easily be extended. The

Royal Navy had two aircraft carriers: HMS HERMES and HMS INVINCIBLE. HMS ILLUSTRIOUS had

been launched, but was not yet operational. The deduction was simple: for control of the air, the Task

Force could not afford to lose a carrier. That premise shaped the naval campaign. The Falklands lie

300 miles east of Argentina. Placing the two carriers east of the Falklands would keep them out of

range of enemy aircraft. That had implications for the availability of air cover; the Harriers had to make

relatively long transits to, and from, station. Because relatively few aircraft were available, they could

only patrol for short periods. It was planned to build a forward operating base to accommodate 12

Harriers once land operations got underway. However, the loss of much of the stock of perforated

steel planking on the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR limited the capacity of that base to only four aircraft.

HMS ILLUSTRIOUS joined the Task Force later in the year, but only after the Falkland Islands had

been retaken. Using today’s planning concepts, two functioning carriers would arguably have been

the Task Force centre of gravity. The Argentinians knew how important the carriers were, and

repeatedly tried to find and sink them. (Development Concepts and Doctrine Centre 2013, 2–71 (UK

National Element))

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