Weapons of the Falklands War These are some of the key weapons of the Falklands War used by both sides . Anti - ship missiles . The Exocet is probably the most famous weapon of the war , sinking two British ships and damaging a third . Operated by both sides the missile was used by the Argentine Navy either air launched from Dassault Super Étendard jets and from an improvised land launcher . The Sea Skua was a British light anti - ship missile , fired from Lynx helicopters , its warhead is only 20 kg compared with the Exocet ' s 165 kg . However hits from three Sea Skua missiles badly damaged the Argentine ARA Alferez Sobral . The AS . 12 was a French built light anti - ship missile , fired from Westland Wasp helicopters . Like the Sea Skua its small 28 kg warhead meant that it could not destroy ships outright , however it could disable smaller vessels . On 25 April 1982 it contributed towards damaging and disabling the Argentine Submarine the ARA Santa Fe . A total of nine missiles were fired at the submarine trapped on the surface by anti - submarine torpedoes circling just under the hull . Of the missiles fired four hit , four missed and one failed to launch . Two of the missiles that hit the target failed to detonate on impact , instead punching a hole through the slender conning tower and exploding on the far side . Surface to air missiles . Sea Dart was the British naval medium range Surface to air missile . It proved unable to engage low altitude targets , such as Argentine A4 Skyhawk aircraft and Exocet missiles . However it did achieve several long range kills . Sea Wolf is a British naval short range low altitude surface to air missile , used to complement the longer range Sea Dart . It proved capable of engaging low flying aircraft . Seacat and Tigercat surface to air missiles were obsolete by the Falklands War , however they were used by both sides during the conflict . The optically guided missiles were not effective , no kills can be attributed to the missiles . However they could be used in San Carlos Water where radar based systems like Sea Dart and Sea Wolf could not operate . Argentine land forces had a number of Tigercat missile launchers , there were several near misses , and possibly one Sea Harrier had its engine damaged by shrapnel from one of the missiles . Sea Slug , a long range , high altitude anti - aircraft missile system of the 1950s , was not used against aircraft but for bombardment of positions near Port Stanley by the Royal Navy ships equipped with it . The Blowpipe missile is British built manportable surface to air missile used by both sides during the conflict , its performed poorly – official British reports attributed 9 kills to the missile out of 95 fired . However independent research suggests that only a single kill can be attributed to the British use of the missile , an Aermacchi MB - 339 that was shot down at Goose Green on 28 May 1982 . Argentine forces shot down a Harrier GR3 on 21 May , probably with a Blowpipe missile fired by Primer Teniente S Fernandez of Commando Company 601 over Port Howard . The systems overall lack of success was probably due to the amount of operator input required to successfully hit a target . British SAS special forces had acquired 6 American made Stinger missiles , however the soldier trained to use the missile was killed in a helicopter crash . By luck the first missile fired managed to bring down a Pucará on 21 May , however the lack of training meant that a further 5 missiles fired that day did not hit their targets . Argentine forces used Soviet made SA - 7 Grail man portable missiles . Roland was a European short ranged surface to air missile . Argentine forces deployed a single launcher to defend Stanley airport , it succeeded in shooting down one Sea Harrier ( " XZ456 " ) on 1 June 1982 above 10 , 000 feet ( 3000 m ) . The presence of the launcher forced British aircraft to operate above its envelope – typically at 18 , 000 feet ( 5 , 500 m ) which severely reduced the accuracy of bombs dropped on the airport . Anti - aircraft guns . Argentine forces deployed a substantial number of anti - aircraft gun s around Stanley and Goose Green airfields and these included 15 Oerlikon GDF - 002 35 mm twin cannons and 6 Skyguard fire control radars , as well as one older Super Fledermaus fire control system . Some 15 Rheinmetall 20 mm / 75 anti - aircraft guns as well as about 20 Hispania Suiza 30 mm guns . Aircraft and weapons . The AIM - 9 Sidewinder in its L form was the Harrier ' s air - to - air missile . It claimed 20 Argentine aircraft . By comparison , the FAA had the French Matra R530 missile Artillery and Armour . British forces were equipped with the 105 mm L118 Light Gun as their main artillery and the Scimitar and Scorpion armoured reconnaissance vehicles . The Argentine Marines used LVTP - 7 and LARC - 5 vehicles in their initial amphibious assault with all of them returning to the mainland short after but in the subsequent reinforcement of the islands defences , the Argentine Army deployed two artillery groups with OTO Melara Mod 56 105 mm guns and later their C - 130s airlift four CITER L33 Gun s 155mm in order to repel the British naval gun fire . 12 Panhard AML - 90 wheel vehicles were also stationed within Stanley