France may have kept secret the existence of a “kill switch” which negated the threat of its much-vaunted Exocet missile, which Argentina used to destroy a British warship during the Falklands War 40 years ago.
The Sheffield, a Type 42 destroyer, was part of the Royal Navy taskforce sent to the South Atlantic to recover the islands—known to Argentina as the Malvinas—after General Leopoldo Galtieri invaded the archipelago in April 1982.
On May 4, 1982, HMS Sheffield was hit by an Exocet missile launched by a French-made Super Etendard jet of the Argentinian air force. Twenty sailors were killed and the ship sank six days later.
Exocets also sank a cargo ship, the Atlantic Conveyor, which was part of the taskforce, and also damaged HMS Glamorgan. In total 46 lives were lost in the three incidents.
Razoux said French warships were capable of emitting a special signal which could neutralise Exocets if they were ever targeted by them but he said French President Mitterand decided not to hand over that crucial information to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the spring of 1982 because he did not want to give the “keys to the safe” to a major competitor in the international arms industry.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the House of Commons defence select committee, said the claim “warrants further investigation” and former Defence Secretary Liam Fox said France should be “open and honest” about its role in the 1982 war.
Commander Mike Norman, second in command of HMS Sheffield, told the Telegraph it would be “terrible” if the French had kept secret something that could have saved British sailors’ lives.
The claim would contradict previous reports that Mitterrand had actually supplied Britain with military secrets about the Exocet and the Super Etendard.
Mitterrand’s former aide, Jacques Attali, once recalled that on the day after the Argentinian invasion the French President called Thatcher and said: “I am with you.”
Attali said “she was stunned” by Mitterrand’s quick response, especially considering U.S. President Ronald Reagan had not yet pledged his support for Britain’s position and his Secretary of State Alexander Haig tried to negotiate a peace deal.
Magoudi quoted Mitterrand as saying, of Thatcher: “She is furious. She blames me personally for this new Trafalgar. ... I have been forced to yield. She has them now, the codes. If our customers find out that the French wreck the weapons they sell, it’s not going to reflect well on our exports.”
It claimed a technical team from the French aerospace company Dassault actually fixed faulty missile launchers during the war so the Argentinians could fire the Exocets.
