Military operations
directed at Libya using F-14s (1980–1989)
F-14s were involved
in multiple U.S. military operations directed at Libya between 1980 and 1989.
During this period, F-14s shot down four Libyan Air Force aircraft in two
aerial engagements over the Mediterranean Sea.
On 21 September 1980,
three F-14s from the Kennedy challenged eight Libyan fighters attempting to
intercept a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane two hundred miles from
the Libyan coast. The Libyans disengaged once confronted by the U.S. fighters.
In the summer of
1981, F-14s from VF-41 and VF-84 performed combat air patrols in support of
Freedom of Navigation operations in the Gulf of Sidra. Thirty-five pairs of
Libyan Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers were intercepted and driven away
from the U.S. fleet by F-14s from the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and F-4 “Phantom
IIs” from the USS Forrestal (CV-59) on the first day of operations. The
following day, on 19 August 1981, two Libyan Su-22 “Fitters” opened
fire on two VF-41 F-14As with an AA-2 “Atoll” missile. The missile
failed to hit either of the F-14s and the American pilots destroyed both Libyan
aircraft with AIM-9L “Sidewinder” missiles. These were the first
aerial combat victories in U.S. Navy F-14s and the first for the U.S. since the
Vietnam War.
From 24 July to 14
August 1983, F-14s assigned to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower were involved in
Operation Arid Farmer, the code-name for U.S. military assistance to Sudan,
Egypt and the government of Hissène Habré of Chad during the Chadian-Libyan
conflict. F-14s performed combat air patrols over waters in and near the Gulf
of Sidra during the operation. Several flights of Libyan fighters were
intercepted with neither side opening fire.
F-14As from VF-102
came under fire from Libyan SA-5 surface-to-air missiles over the Gulf of Sidra
during Freedom of Navigation exercises as part of Operation Attain Document on
24 March 1986. The missiles did not hit the F-14s. Later the same day, F-14As
from VF-33 intercepted two Libyan MiG-25 “Foxbats” heading toward the
U.S. naval force. The Libyans were outmaneuvered by the Tomcats, which got
behind the MiG-25s, but the Americans did not receive permission to open fire.
These events and several more surface-to-air missile launches prompted the U.S.
Navy to initiate Operation Prairie Fire. F-14 Tomcats provided fighter cover
during the operation.
On 15 April 1986,
F-14s from VF-33, VF-102, VF-74 and VF-103 participated in Operation El Dorado
Canyon, providing fighter cover for a series of air strikes against targets
within Libya.
On 4 January 1989,
two F-14As from VF-32 assigned to the USS John F. Kennedy shot down two Libyan
MiG-23 “Floggers” off the coast of Libya. The Libyan fighters
appeared to be maneuvering for a missile firing position when the Americans
concluded they were under attack. The MiG-23s were shot down with AIM-7
“Sparrow” and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
The Mediterranean Sea became the arena for much action short
of war during the 1980s. American confrontation of Libya in the Gulf of Sidra
led to incidents on August 19, 1981, and January 4, 1989, during which aircraft
from United States Navy Sixth Fleet carriers engaged with Libyan aircraft. In
the earlier incident, two F- 14A Tomcats from the Nimitz were fired on by a
pair of Libyan Su- 22 fighters and destroyed them, while in the later incident,
Tomcats from the John F. Kennedy engaged and shot down two MiG-23 aircraft. The
civil war in Lebanon that began in 1975 also led to outside intervention at
various stages as it unfolded. United States Marines, together with French and
Italian forces, landed in Beirut on August 20, 1982, in an attempt to stabilize
the situation in the country. Both American and French carriers provided cover
for this operation and maintained a strong presence off the Lebanese coast
thereafter. On April 18, 1983, the American Embassy was struck by a suicide
attack that killed sixty-three people, leading President Ronald Reagan to order
retaliatory attacks. The French Embassy was bombarded on September 9, to which
the French carrier Foch responded with air strikes against the presumed
artillery positions responsible. Then, on October 23, the barracks housing both
the United States Marines and French paratroopers were attacked with massive
suicide truck bombs that killed 241 Marines and 58 paratroopers. Aircraft from
the Clémenceau, the John F. Kennedy, and the Independence undertook retaliatory
raids against targets in the Bekaa Valley, as well as undertaking evacuations
of troops from Beirut. Both navies continued to operate carriers off the
Lebanese coast for some considerable time after the withdrawal of French and
American troops.
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, led to a
major international operation to expel the invaders that began the
counterattack, operation Desert Storm (for United States forces) on January 17,
1991. Eight American carriers and seven helicopter assault ships plus the
French carrier Clémenceau formed the air striking force of the international
fleet that took part in this operation. The ground assault began on February 24
after an intensive air campaign using substantial quantities of precision
strike ordnance against the Iraqi forces. It led to the expulsion of the Iraqis
within four days and the negotiation of a cease-fire on March 1. Similarly
massive carrier forces were assembled for the United States assault on the
Taliban in Afghanistan after the suicide airliner attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001.
Operation Enduring Freedom was launched on October 7, 2001. No less than ten
United States Navy carriers and four helicopter assault ships took part and
demonstrated the extended reach of naval aviation, for Afghanistan is totally
land-locked. The later invasion of Iraq (operation Iraqi Freedom to United
States forces) involved yet another large concentration of carrier air power:
one British and eight American carriers plus one British and six American
helicopter assault ships took a major role in the assault that began on March
19, 2003, and was declared complete on April 14. In both these later operations
the most notable feature of the aerial assault was its almost exclusive
reliance on the use of “smart” weapons, precision guided bombs and missiles, to
achieve incomparably greater accuracy and economy of operation than was
possible in earlier conflicts.
The prolonged war between Iran and Iraq that raged from 1980
to 1988 led to substantial carrier deployments to the Persian Gulf, especially
after the Iranians initiated their campaign against neutral tankers
transporting crude oil from the Iraqi terminal at Khargh Island. During the
so-called “tanker war” from 1984 to 1987 both American and French
carriers operated in the Gulf, providing air cover for tankers and their own
surface forces. American carriers also remained in the Persian Gulf after the
end of the war to liberate Kuwait, participating in the enforcement of the
“no-fly” zone over southern Iraq until 2002. British, French, and
American carriers also operated regularly in the Adriatic Sea during the
various stages of the conflicts within the former Yugoslavia from 1993 to 2000.
The French, the British, and especially the American
experience of carrier operations off Indo-China and Korea after World War II
wrought a profound change in their navies’ perception of the operational
parameters within which carriers would operate in the future. During World War
II, carriers became the primary striking arm of oceanic fleets, launching
concentrated forces to attack and sink enemy warships and surface vessels
across distances greatly amplified above those possible with surface weaponry.
The Indo-Chinese and Korean experience rendered this paradigm obsolete.
Instead, carrier air power became the supreme manifestation of the potential
for mobile force projection against an enemy’s heartland, especially as the
unrefueled range of large carrier strike aircraft expanded. Rather than being
an aberration, as some observers and even some participants considered it, this
experience presaged the maturation of carrier air power as the preeminent
quick-reaction force capable of rapidly bringing devastating concentrated
firepower against significant national assets. Even today, despite the great
advances in aerial refueling that have enabled land-base aircraft to range
around the globe, aircraft carriers consistently demonstrate the economical,
flexible, and effective projection of overwhelming force throughout the world.
