Chad (merged thread)

[Azor]

With a patrol plane as bait, fighter jets targeted radar sites

by TOM COOPER & ARNAUD DELALANDE

In 1983 and 1984, France intervened in the war between Chad and Libya. Paris’ Operation Manta established a “red line” along the 15th parallel — a blocking position meant to stop any advance by Libyan troops and Chadian rebels into southern Chad.

Chad was in the throes of a civil war that escalated when Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi backed Chadian rebel leader Goukouni Oueddei. Libyan troops and Chadian rebels occupied northern Chad. France was determined to protect what was left of Chad — its former colony — from Libyan influence.
France moved the red line north to the 16th parallel in January 1984 after Chadian forces shot down a French Jaguar fighter-bomber, killing its pilot. And on Feb. 16, 1986, the French air force launched an air raid targeting a Libyan-built airbase near the Ouadi-Doum oasis in northern Chad. Eleven Jaguars lobbing BAP-100 bombs totally destroyed the runway.

Thus began Operation Sparrowhawk — France’s big push to bring the Chadian civil war to a close. Air power played a central role....

See more here: https://warisboring.com/in-1987-the-...119#.s352hg3zs

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?

[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.

[Azor]

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.

I was speaking strictly from a military perspective. Probably the closet analogues would be Argentina's seizure of the Falklands in 1982 and Egypt's seizure of the east bank of the Suez in 1973 (to October 13).

I can assure you that China has studied the Falklands intently, while Russia probably leans more toward Suez.