Gulf of Sidra incident (1989)

1989 Gulf of Sidra incident
Gun camera still of the lead F-14 showing the last remaining MiG-23 exploding after being hit by an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile.
Date 4 January 1989 Location Mediterranean Sea Result United States victory
Belligerents
Libya	United States
Commanders and leaders
Muammar Gaddafi	Ronald Reagan
Strength
2 MiG-23 Floggers	2 F-14A Tomcats
Casualties and losses
2 aircraft destroyed 2 pilots killed	None

The second Gulf of Sidra incident occurred on 4 January 1989 when two United States Navy F-14 Tomcats shot down two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers that appeared to have been attempting to engage them, as had happened eight years prior in the first Gulf of Sidra incident, in 1981.

In 1973 Libya claimed much of the Gulf of Sidra as its territorial waters and subsequently declared a "line of death", the crossing of which would invite a military response. Tensions between Libya and the U.S. were high after the U.S. accused Libya of building a chemical weapons plant near Rabta, causing the U.S. to deploy the USS America near its coast. A second carrier group, based around the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was also being prepared to sail into the Gulf of Sidra.

On the morning of 4 January 1989, the Kennedy battle group was operating some 130 km north of Libya, with a group of A-6 Intruders on exercise south of Crete, escorted by two pairs of F-14As from VF-14 and VF-32, and as well as an E-2C from VAW-126. Later that morning the southernmost Combat Air Patrol station was taken by two F-14s from VF-32, (CDR Joseph Bernard Connelly/CDR Leo F. Enwright in BuNo 159610, 'AC207') and (LT Hermon C. Cook III/LCDR Steven Patrick Collins in BuNo 159437, 'AC202'). The officers had been specially briefed for this mission due to the high tensions regarding the carrier group's presence; the pilots were advised to expect some kind of hostilities.

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