Glossary
| AAC | Army Air Corps (British) |
| Aden | 30mm aircraft cannon (British) |
| AEW | Airborne Early Warning (radar) |
| Agave | French multi-purpose airborne radar fitted in Super Etendard – associated with AM.39 Exocet missile |
| AIM-9 | Sidewinder air-to-air missile, carried by Sea Harrier (-9G and -9L) and A-4Q Skyhawk (-9B) |
| AOA | Amphibious Operating Area – the land and sea area in the vicinity of the landing beaches and the amphibious shipping anchorage: in practice, San Carlos Water and Port San Carlos and the surrounding hills, together with the northern part of the Falkland Sound outside San Carlos Water. Became the Transport Area from 1 June, 1982 |
| ARA | Armada Republica Argentina: Navy of the Argentine Republic |
| AS.12 | Air-to-surface missile carried by RN Wasp helicopters (see Appendix I) |
| ASW | Anti-Submarine Warfare |
| Avcat | High flash-point kerosene-based aviation fuel used by RN carrier-based turbine-engined aircraft |
| Avgas | Low flash-point aviation gasoline (petrol) |
| BAM | Base Aerea Militar: Military (ie Air Force) Air Base, eg |
| BAN | Base Aerea Naval: Naval Air Base, eg |
| BAS | British Antarctic Survey – a scientific research organization funded by the British Government to conduct research in the Antarctic and Falkland Islands Dependencies |
| Bergen | Royal Marines Arctic back-pack |
| Blowpipe | man-portable, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile used by British and Argentine ground forces |
| BMA | Brigade Maintenance Area (British); the military logistic support area, including workshops and medical facilities as well as ammunition, stores, fuel and provisions dumps |
| CAP | Combat Air Patrol: originally a defensive fighter mission but subsequently extended to any air-to-air fighter mission |
| Carl Gustav | 84mm recoilless anti-tank weapon (Swedish-built, used by Royal Marines) |
| Casevac | Casualty Evacuation (usually by helicopter) |
| CdoFAS | Comando de la Fuerza Aerea Sur: Southern Air Command – the Argentine Air Force operational control headquarters based at Comodoro Rivadavia |
| Chaff | Metallic foil, launched by ships or released from aircraft to form radar reflecting clouds to distract or confuse missile homing heads or human operators |
| COMAW | Commodore, Amphibious Warfare (British) |
| ‘Corporate’ | The overall code-name bestowed upon the operation to recover the Falkland Islands. Individual operations within the framework of ‘Corporate’ received separate names |
| Dracone | ‘Sausage-shaped’ flexible towed bulk fuel container; buoyancy provided by the contents, which have a lower specific gravity than water |
| Dieso | Diesel-type light oil fuel burned by RN steam and turbine-engined ships and also usable by Wasp helicopters |
| ECM | Electronic Counter Measures – active anti-radio/radar techniques and tactics, particularly ‘jamming’ of transmissions |
| Elta | Israeli electronics firm: an Elta target-indicating radar was installed at Goose Green to support the Argentine Air Force 20mm AA guns |
| Elint | Electronic Intelligence – the gathering of data by ESM (qv) techniques |
| ESM | Electronic Support Measures – passive techniques and tactics, particularly the interception of radio and radar transmissions |
| Exocet | Surface-to-surface (MM.38) and air-to-surface (AM.39) homing missile; (see Appendix I) |
| FAA | Fuerza Aerea Argentina: Argentine Air Force |
| FCO | Foreign and Commonwealth Office (British) |
| FFO | Furnace Fuel Oil – a heavy fuel oil burned by a few older steam ships (eg HMS Hermes and SS Queen Elizabeth II) |
| FIMEZ | Falkland Islands Maritime Exclusion Zone: a 200-mile radius zone centred on 51–10′ South 59–30′ West (2 miles south-east of the entrance to Port Howard), announced by the British Government on 7 April, 1982, and effective from 0400 GMT (midnight local) on 12 April |
| FOB | Forward Operating Base (helicopters) |
| GPMG | 7.62mm General-Purpose Machine Gun (belt-fed), used by infantry on bipod or tripod mount, in ships and helicopters on a pintle mount |
| GR3 | Harrier GR3 – the short form used to differentiate between the Sea Harrier and the RAF Harrier (see SHAR) |
| ICRC | International Commission of the Red Cross |
| IFF | Identification Friend or Foe – an ultra-high frequency radio interrogator and transponder system used in association with warning radars to differentiate between known friendly and hostile or unidentified contacts |
| Landing Craft and Ships | for details see Appendices I, II, IV |
| LCU | Landing Craft, Utility (British) |
| LCVP | Landing Craft, Vehicles and Personnel |
| LPD | Landing Platform, Dock (British) |
| LSL | Landing Ship, Logistic (British) |
| LST | Landing Ship, Tank (Argentine) |
| Lepus | High-candlepower flare for illumination of surface targets, released by Sea Harriers |
| LGB | Laser-guided bomb – a 1,000lb (454 kg) aircraft bomb with a nose attachment featuring a laser seeker, guidance unit and control fins. The seeker picks up reflected ‘beams’ from an object illuminated by a laser target-marker and the guidance unit converts the input to command signals to home the bomb (US Air Force code-name ‘Paveway’) on to the source of the reflection |
| LMG | Light Machine Gun – the 1938 Bren Gun re-chambered and re-barrelled to fire 7.62mm ammunition |
| ‘Lola’ | Logistic Loitering Area – the holding area east of the TEZ (qv) used by RFAs and STUFT supporting but not in company with the Carrier Battle Group |
| LVT | Landing Vehicle, Tracked – an amphibious armoured personnel carrier used by the Argentine Marine Corps |
| Marisat | Maritime Satellite communications system – used by auxiliary and merchant vessels |
| Mexeflote | Motorised pontoon platform, operated by Royal Corps of Transport and carried to the operational area on the sides of some LSLs |
| Milan | Wire-guided anti-tank missile (of Franco-German origin) in service with the Royal Marines and British Army; used with success for engaging bunkers |
| Mile | A nautical mile is equal to one degree of latitude at the Equator and, unlike the equivalents which follow, is a natural unit of measurement of distance, used universally for sea navigation and very widely for air navigation |
= 6,080 feet |
|
= 1.1515 statute miles |
|
= 1.7371 versts |
|
= 1.8532 kilometres |
|
| NGS | Naval Gunfire Support – bombardment of shore targets by warships, not necessarily in direct tactical support of military operations |
| Omega | Very-low-frequency automatic world-wide commercial navigation system, used by shipping and aircraft (including some Argentine Air Force tactical squadrons) |
| ‘Paraquet’ | Code-name given to operation to recover South Georgia: reputedly intended to be ‘Paraquat’ (a commercial weed-killer), the meaningless corruption originating from a typist’s error |
| PNG | Passive Night Goggles – image-intensifying night vision aids used by specially-trained RN Sea King Mark 4 pilots for low-level overland flying, specifically for landing and extracting Special Forces reconnaissance teams |
| R.530 | French air-to-air missile (radar or infra-red homing) carried by Dassault Mirage IIIEA interceptor |
| Rapier | Trailer-mounted surface-to-air missile system operated by Royal Artillery and RAF Regiment batteries |
| RAS | Replenishment at Sea (pronounced ‘Razz’) – transfer of liquid [RAS(L)] or solid [RAS(S)] stores between ships underway (see also ‘Vertrep’) |
| RFA | Royal Fleet Auxiliary – merchant-manned fleet of Ministry of Defence-owned support vessels (and landing ships) operated on behalf of the Royal Navy |
| RMAS | Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service (formerly Port Auxiliary Service – PAS) – broadly, the counterpart of the RFA for inshore and harbour support tasks, but also with responsibility for ocean salvage |
| RNSTS | Royal Navy Supply and Transport Service – the civilian supply and issuing organization responsible for the timely provision of all non-fuel stores to the Fleet (the personnel embark in RFAs and, during ‘Corporate’, STUFT) |
| Roland | Tracked-vehicle-mounted surface-to-air missile (French) deployed by Argentine Army at Port Stanley |
| ‘Rosario’ | The code-name for the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands |
| SA-7 | Soviet ‘Strela’ (NATO code-name ‘Grail’) man-portable shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile (infra-red homing) – supplied to Argentine forces by Peru in May, 1982 |
| Seacat | Short-range surface-to-air missile (RN and Argentine Navy) |
| Sea Dart | Medium-range surface-to-air missile (RN and Argentine Navy) |
| Sea Skua | Short-range air-to-surface (RN helicopters) |
| Seaslug | Medium-range surface-to-air missile (RN) |
| Sea Wolf | Short-range surface-to-air missile (RN) (for details of these naval missiles, see Appendix I) |
| Shafrir | Israeli-built air-to-air missile (infra-red homing) supplied with Dagger fighters – reputedly a development of the Sidewinder AIM-9B |
| SHAR | Sea Harrier – the abbreviated form used on ‘State Boards’ and in signals was generally adopted as a nickname for the fighter. |
| Shrike | (AGM-45A) US-supplied air-to-surface ‘anti-radiation’ missile (homes on radar transmissions) – used by RAF Vulcans |
| Sidewinder | see AIM-9 |
| ‘Sixty-Six’ | ‘Bazooka’-type 66mm anti-tank rocket with disposable launcher used, in the absence of tanks, by Royal Marines as a personal close-support weapon (M72) |
| Ski Jump | An inclined ramp at the forward end of the flight deck of a carrier, for flying off fixed-wing short take-off aircraft. The Sea Harrier accelerates extremely rapidly but, even when heavily loaded, requires a short deck run to reach true flying speed; this is, however, not long enough when less than the full length of the flight deck is available. The invention, by Lieutenant-Commander J. W. Taylor RN, of the ski jump provided, in effect, a ‘runway in the sky’, the aircraft leaving the ramp on an upward curve, with neither sufficient upward thrust from the 21,500lb-trust Pegasus engine nor sufficient forward speed for wing-borne flight, but sufficient height (and time) for the aircraft to accelerate to ‘flying speed’, usually reached about 400 yards ahead of the carrier. |
| Skyguard | Anti-aircraft radar fire control system – used by Argentine Air Force and Army in association with 35mm Oerlikon AA guns |
| SS.11 | Wire-guided anti-tank missile (launched by AAC and Commando Brigade Air Squadron Scout helicopters) |
| Stinger | Man-portable shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile (infra-red homing) – US-supplied, used only by British Special Forces |
| STOVL | Short Take-off, Vertical Landing – the preferred mode of operation of the Sea Harrier, which has insufficient power to get airborne vertically when carrying a full fuel and weapons load (see ‘Ski Jump’) |
| STUFT | Ships Taken up from Trade – requisitioned or chartered merchant vessels, commanded and manned by Merchant Navy crews (except for the minesweeping trawlers), accompanied by Naval Parties. |
| ‘Sutton’ | The code-name for the British invasion of East Falkland |
| TA | Transport Area – the amphibious phase of the recovery of East Falkland came to a close with the break-out of the RM Commandos and Parachute Regiment battalions and the AOA was renamed, with effect from 1 June, 1982 |
| Task Force | A ‘family tree’ organization for the conduct of operations. The ‘Task Force’ embraced all formations allocated to the operation; the ‘Task Groups’ were the largest self-contained subordinate commands and detached ‘Task Units’ for specific missions, during which certain roles could be further delegated to ‘Task Elements’. All were numbered in a sequence which took as a basic ‘root’ the identity of the next most senior command. Thus, TE 317.8.2.3 was a ship on the screen (TU 317.8.2) of the Carrier Battle Group (TG 317.8), under the direct orders of Commander-in-Chief Fleet (Commander, TF 317) |
| TEZ | Total Exclusion Zone: geographically the same area as the FIMEZ (qv), the TEZ was announced by the British Government on 28 April, 1982, and was enforced from 1100 GMT (dawn, local) on 1 May; from that time, any ship or aircraft, military or civilian, engaged in support of the Argentine occupation of the Falkland Islands, or present in the TEZ without the authority of the British Government (and therefore presumed to be supporting the Argentine presence) would be liable to attack |
| TPS-43 | (properly AN/TPS-43) Air-portable long-range air warning and control radar system – deployed to Port Stanley by Argentine Air Force |
| ‘Trala’ | ‘Tug, Repair and Logistics Area’ – a mobile haven for RFAs and STUFT, located to the east of the TEZ (earlier known as ‘Lola’ (qv)) |
| Vertrep | Vertical Replenishment – the transfer of stores by helicopter. The removal of the need for alongside transfers by jackstay (US Navy Hi-line), for all but the heaviest and most awkward loads gives the ships freedom of manoeuvre and a greater degree of flexibility to the task group commander |
| VT Fuze | Variable Time Fuze – a proximity fuze which uses radar principles to initiate the detonation of a shell or bomb at a lethal distance from an air target or at a set height above a surface target. Conventional fuzes rely upon contact or pre-set mechanical or chemical time delays |
| VYCA2 | Grupo 2 de Vigilancia y Control Aereo – the Argentine Air Force air defence warning, control and co-ordination organization installed at Port Stanley |