RAF Rapier FSC missile sites

I'm normally very reluctant to post Google Earth imagery of British or US sites but in this case I can't see any security implications.

In my quest to conclusively ID Iranian SHORAD (Short Range Air Defense) sites, I searched known operators of Rapier, SkyGuard and Crotale to see if there was a pattern - there was, I was finding SkyGuard sites in Iran (see Bluffer's Guide: Fortress Iran).

But a by-product of that research was a number of RAF Rapier sites in the Falklands, and coming up to the anniversary of the Falklands war I thought it might be interesting to see what's now defending these islands from Argentinian territorial desires.

The type of Rapier used is the FSC (Field Standard C) which has a range of about 8km and is considered very potent against aircraft at low altitude.


Five sites are located around RAF Mount Pleasant air base south of Stanley:



The sites themselves have three small square platforms for the missile launcher and radars. In the satellite imagery only two sites are occupied.


This still from a Youtube video shows one of the platforms with a Rapier missile launcher on it. (this confirms the site identification)


And I'll finish with pointing out this maybe-funny video by the Royal Artillery of one of the Rapier sites: www.youtube.com...