Chad (merged thread)

[davidbfpo]

We hear a great deal about the potential for Russia or China to occupy a small piece of territory - say Narva or the Spratlys - and then establish an A2/AD zone over the occupied area to prevent recapture. Could France's Operations Manta and Sparrowhawk also be examples of this, given the role that defensive CAS and the deployment of SAMs played, as well as the limitation of the mission to the 15th/16th parallel?

Azor,

From my "armchair" the situations are very different. Chad in 1987 was an obscure nation, largely desert and sparsely populated. Neither Narva, an Estonian city on the Russian border and The Spratlys are low profile, although the resident populations are very different.

The French and Libyans could use their approach without publicity and a local audience. It probably helped that Libya had few friends; although plenty of sellers of weapons.