When the Falklands war began in April 1982, the Wasp was nearing the end of its Royal Navy career, but it still flew from the older frigates and from the ice patrol ship HMS Endurance. On 25 April 1982 the Argentine submarine Santa Fe, landing reinforcements at South Georgia, was caught on the surface by a Wessex from HMS Antrim, which attacked with depth charges, and by a Lynx from HMS Brilliant. A Wasp from HMS Plymouth and two from Endurance then fired AS.12 missiles, scoring hits. Unable to dive, Santa Fe limped back to Grytviken, where her crew abandoned her, and the Argentine garrison surrendered later that day. It was the first engagement of the task force.

Other Wasps went south with the survey ships that served as ambulance ships. XT420, now flown by Navy Wings, served aboard HMS Hecla in the casualty evacuation role with large red crosses painted on its fuselage.

On 2 March 1964 sixteen Scouts left Middle Wallop for the Far East, embarked on the commando carrier HMS Bulwark and reached Singapore four weeks later to re-equip 656 Squadron for the Borneo confrontation. The squadron recorded that the five-seat Scout, the first British home-grown turbine helicopter, was fast, at over 100 knots, could climb to 10,000 ft in less than ten minutes and was a delight to fly after the underpowered Skeeter, but that its early technical defects made for very poor serviceability.

In Aden and the Radfan Scouts were hit by ground fire on several occasions. On 26 May 1964 the commanding officer of 3 PARA, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Farrar-Hockley, was reconnoitring Wadi Dhubsan in a Scout when it was hit and forced down behind enemy lines; the aircraft was later recovered. Eighteen years later Scouts of 656 Squadron and 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron went to the Falklands, flying supplies, special forces and casualties, and on 14 June 1982 firing SS.11 missiles at Argentine artillery west of Stanley.

Both helicopters used the Nimbus free-turbine engine, developed by Blackburn and Bristol Siddeley and later built by Rolls-Royce. Rated at about 1,050 shp, it was torque-limited to around 685–710 shp in service to suit the transmission, which gave the small helicopters useful reserves in hot and high conditions. In early service the engine was notoriously short-lived, with only a few hours between removals; development and experience pushed this up dramatically by the mid-1960s.

The Wasp carried extra fuel in the cabin floor, a rescue winch above the starboard rear door and a cargo hook under the fuselage. With a crew of two, a pilot and an aircrewman who also aimed the missiles, it could seat three passengers or carry one stretcher across the rear cabin, making it a useful ship’s utility helicopter as well as a weapons carrier. Navigation and attack depended largely on the parent ship’s radar and sonar.

• Saro P.531: private-venture prototypes, first flight 20 July 1958; Nimbus-powered from 1959.
• Scout AH.1: British Army five-seat skid version, about 150 built; also used by the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, Jordan, the South African Air Force and various police forces.
• Sea Scout HAS.1 / Wasp HAS.1: naval version with quadricycle undercarriage, folding tail and rotors; Royal Navy 1964–1988.
• AH-12A: Royal Netherlands Navy designation; 12 delivered 1966–67 for Van Speijk class frigates, retired 1981, later refurbished for Indonesia.
• UH-2 / UH-2A: Brazilian Navy designations; three new in 1966 and seven ex-Royal Navy in 1977.
• South Africa: 17 ordered, 16 delivered for President class frigates, flown from Ysterplaat until 1990.
• New Zealand and Malaysia: RNZN Wasps from 1966 to 1998; Royal Malaysian Navy from 1988 for about a decade.

The Wasp was a small, simple helicopter by later standards, and it let navies put an air arm on ordinary frigates. Its costs lay in support: a maintenance team had to go to sea with every flight, often provided by another service, as New Zealand’s RNZAF technicians were. Early Nimbus engines needed changing after only a few flying hours, which made the first years expensive for both the Navy and the Army. Mature engines, two or three engine changes per 1,000 flying hours by 1964 by some accounts, brought costs under control.