I know what your saying. But with SKASaC or E3 Sentry support, the GR9 can still intercept aircraft beyond the range of any shipborne missile, and it can visually identify suspicious aircraft.
In day VMC....
Having just read Mog's excellent
Hostile Skies, it was obvious that the Argentine air force made good use of cloud cover to deny the FRS1 any visual acquistion - and the difficulty of flying the jet with limited fuel reserves, whilst trying to lock the radar and slave an AIM-9, were all too obvious. But F/A2 with 4 x AIM 120 and Link16 would have been a different kettle of fish!
Criminal lunacy to have binned the Sea Harrier F/A2......