The Falkland Islands have been left vulnerable after the Royal Navy has scrapped warship patrols of its shores.
A major British warship has not visited the islands for almost seven years despite an official policy to patrol the South Atlantic amid Argentina’s plans to buy fighter jets, submarines and warships raising fears it could launch a second invasion.
The decision was made due to ship shortages and the Falklands defence has now been left to a small patrol boat, HMS Forth, and four RAF Typhoons.
HMS Forth is equipped with just one 30mm cannon and one of the four jets on the island is not currently operational.
Falklands patrols were previously being undertaken by a frigate or destroyer with anti-ship and air defence missiles.
A navy source told the Telegraph: “Everything only stretches so far, and we only have so many frigates and destroyers. If things were to hot up, we would look at it again.”
As many as 11 of the navy’s frigates are currently out of operational duty with two set to be scrapped due to a staffing crisis.
New Type 31 and Type 26 frigates will not enter service until the late 2020s and new destroyers are not expected to launch until the late 2030s.
The news comes as fears over the security of the islands have recently risen after newly elected Argentinian president Javier Milei said that his country has “non-negotiable” sovereignty over the Falklands.
Milei said he would use “diplomatic channels” to force Britain to release its claim, but the foreign office has rebuffed his efforts.
He is said to have approved a US-backed deal to acquire 24 F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and has launched a review into plans to buy three submarines and a stock of warships from France or Germany.
Victoria Villarruel, Milei’s vice president and the daughter of a prisoner of war in the Falklands, said the government will triple its defence budget by 2032.
Argentina does not currently have any operational fighter jets, while its navy is operating without a submarine, but plans to restore the country’s armed forces prompted calls for Britain to resume major warship patrols.
A spokesman for the Friends of the British Overseas Territories, which works with those in the Falklands, warned the UK had “a reduced presence, a less capable Royal Navy and a lack of vision in defending against Argentina’s growing and modernised armed forces”.
He told the Telegraph: “We urge the UK’s Ministry of Defence to rethink defences and overseas territory capabilities before security is compromised and we are forced into a larger conflict.
“We do not want to see a repeat of 1982.”
