The Gulf of Sidra is famous as the bone of contention between the U.S. and Libya to establish territorial hegemony over the gulf. In 1970, Libya had declared the territorial waters of the Gulf of Sidra as their own. The U.S. Navy felt irritated on Libyan claim and decided to embark upon a naval operation under the cloak of exercise named as “Freedom of Navigation”.

The area was called by the Navy as “line of death”. These operations received rigor when Reagan administration came in to power. The president issued a “green signal” to Navy. A huge naval force was deployed at the Libyan coast called Gulf of Sidra. Libyan felt offended and decided to retaliate. In august 1981, Libyan air Force sent interceptors and fighter jets to counter the U.S. operation. As soon as the U.S. navy exercise started, three Libyan Mig-25 reached near the carrier ships but they were forced to flee when F-14 of U.S. Navy followed them.

Again a large number of Libyan MiG-23 flew in to the area but they were again intercepted by the U.S. naval forces. The conflict created a lot of tension between the two forces. But no one fired any missile except in two cases when two Libyan MiGs tried to penetrate in to the exercise area by making the jets fly high at fast speed.

In retaliation, two F-14 were sent to intercept Libyan MiGs. A Libyan MiG fired an Atoll which did not hit any of the American aircrafts. But Americans now had the “right of self defense” and they hit the two Libyan MiGs but the two pilots succeeded in ejecting.

Gulf of Sidra