Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)

Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)
Part of the Cold War

A CGI recreation of Fast Eagle 107's AIM-9 Sidewinder about to hit a Libyan Su-22 over Gulf of Sidra.
Date19 August 1981
Location
Result

US Victory

  • Two Su-22s shot down
Belligerents
 United States  Libya
Commanders and leaders
United States Ronald Reagan Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi
Strength
  • 2 Su-22s
  • GCI radar stations
Casualties and losses
None 2 aircraft destroyed

In the first Gulf of Sidra incident, 19 August 1981, two Libyan Su-22 Fitters fired upon two U.S. F-14 Tomcats and were subsequently shot down off the Libyan coast. Libya had claimed that the entire Gulf was their territory, at 32° 30′ N, with an exclusive 62-nautical-mile (115 km; 71 mi) fishing zone, which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted as "The Line of Death" in 1973.[1] Two further incidents occurred in the area in 1986 and in 1989.

  1. ^ "Libya Maritime claims". Indexmundi.com. Retrieved 1 March 2013.