The United Kingdom's South Atlantic territorial holdings provide it and its allies, including the United States, access to maritime resources, a territorial claim to Antarctica, and a strategic presence and logistical reach into the South Atlantic. The most important of the British holdings are its military deployments in the Falklands and in the Wideawake airbase on Ascension Island, which is jointly managed with the United States.
Though the British islands in the South Atlantic, including Ascension and the Falklands, provide the United Kingdom a strategic military presence in the region, they are also expensive to maintain. The holdings demand a permanent forward based protection force, particularly in the Falklands, as well as a British naval projection capable of defending them. The British armed forces, however, are suffering from years of successive military spending cuts, which have limited their capabilities in this regard.
The United Kingdom's acute defensive concern comes from the difficulty of getting air power to the region in the event of a conflict. In the case that its airbases in the region get disabled, the British military would not be able to use fixed-wing combat aircraft in the vast South Atlantic Ocean until its Elizabeth-class carriers with F-35s come into service in 2020. Nevertheless, the United Kingdom would be able to mount a significant military response led by its Joint Rapid Reaction Force in the event of a surprise attack. The Royal Navy also has significant anti-aircraft and anti-ship capabilities, which give it an advantage over regional rivals, including Argentina.
