Chang cited the example of the Falklands War of 1982 between Britain and Argentina to illustrate his point, stating that the Argentine Air Force successfully sank or damaged six British Royal Navy ships with only five French-built Super Etendard fighter aircraft and 48 obsolete US-built A-4 Skyhawk attackers, though Argentina was ultimately defeated. The magazine stated that five French-built Exocet anti-ship missiles with a range of only 50 kilometers with which the Super Etendards were equipped, played the most important role in sinking and damaging the British ships during the conflict over the British islands in the South Atlantic, claimed by Argentina as the Malvinas.
The second Exocet missile launched from one of the Super Etendard aircraft sank the HMS Sheffield, a British destroyer while the third and fifth missiles fired hit the SS Atlantic Conveyor, a British merchant navy ship requisitioned for the war, and County-class destroyer the HMS Glamorgan. The Argentine Air Force used its greater numbers, at one point deploying 30 A-4 attackers to launch a single attack against the British forces. With a weaker naval combat fleet, the Kanwa Defense Review said that Argentina had conducted a successful guerrilla warfare campaign against the Royal Navy with its limited air power.
The same kinds of tactics could also be used by the People's Air Force of Vietnam in any future conflict against the PLA Navy, according to Chang. Vietnam has a total of 32 Su-30MK2 fighters, introduced from Russia, which are are able to carry Kh31 anti-ship missiles while the Chinese Su-30MKK cannot. If China wants to upgrade its Su-30MKK, it must pay an additional fee to purchase the missile system from Russia.
The article stated that the Vietnamese Su-30MK2s are capable of launching precision attacks against PLA naval bases in Yalong Bay in Hainan, where Type 052D destroyers and Type 094 Jin-class ballistic missile submarines are stationed, without even leaving Vietnamese airspace. The article went on to say that, in addition to the Su-30MK2 and Kh31 missiles, Vietnam only needs between two and three missiles fired from the Bastion coast defense system to sink a Chinese aircraft carrier.
The British experience of deploying five nuclear-powered submarines to the Falklands can provide the Vietnam People's Navy with an important lesson in confronting a Chinese carrier battle group in the South China Sea, the piece said. The Royal Navy was able to prevent the Argentine Navy from leaving its base following the sinking of the General Belgrano by the Royal navy submarine Conqueror. The article said that the People's Navy of Vietnam, with better submarines than China, may be able to do the same thing to China.
The article also stated that China would not enjoy diplomatic support from Western powers, as Britain did in the Falklands campaign.