About a month before the invasion Argentina asked the Defence Ministry if it could buy the delta-wing Vulcans, which were to be phased out of the R.A.F by the end of 1982 and replaced by Tornado swing-wing aircraft. Possession of the Vulcans would have made Argentina the only South American nation to own a strategic bomber force. In a war with Britain, it could have dropped conventional bombs on the Falklands, South Georgia and even, with in-flight refuelling, on Ascension Island. The Ministry did not follow up the offer but there is no evidence to show that it reported the matter to the Foreign Office.