Libyan Air Defense

The recent reports in the Media on the prerequisite of eliminating Libyan Air Defense prior to establishing a No Fly Zone over Libya, to prevent the Libyan Air Force from attacking the opponents of Colonel Gaddafi, has had mixed reception amongst the world’s leaders.

Libya’s Air Defense, as are other Arab Air Defense systems, has the capability of using its Land Based Air Defense to good effect to attack aerial targets flying over Libyan airspace. Much of Libya’s air defense capability comprises of highly mobile Anti Aircraft Artillery (AAA) units equipped with a variety of Anti Aircraft guns and/ or Surface to Air Missiles (SAM). Such an Air Defense system is by design very evasive: if their exact whereabouts is known today, by tomorrow morning the same unit could be 100 kms away!

Caption: A Libyan S-75 site

Before a No Fly Zone policy could be implemented the Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) is essential. How long this would take depends on the inventory, what type of equipment has to be eliminated and what are the quantities? Knowledge of Air Defence and Missile Systems radar would also be a prerequisite.

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