QADDAFI THREATENING U.S. PLANES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470020-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: January 30, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470020-7
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WASHINGTON POST
30 January 1986
Threate ' U.S. Planes nmg Qaddafi
Libyan Has Some New Missiles Ready for Use
By George C. Wilson
Washington Poet Staff Writer
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi now has
a few Soviet SA5 antiaircraft missiles at his
disposal and is threatening to use them if
U.S. Navy planes venture over the Gulf of
Sidra, administration officials said yester-
day.
Officials with access to the latest intel-
ligence from Libya said Soviet advisers had
cautioned a a i against launching ing any ot
the new y arrive missiles during the
current U.S. naval exercise off Libyabut
,t at a a i a rem~ i tat he wou e-
cide if and when totire the weapons.
ere has been debate in the U-S. intel-
ligence community over whether the Soviet
Union had retained command of the SA5s it
sent to Libya, its second shipment outside
the Warsaw Pact (the other was to Syria).
Latest reports indicate that Qaddafi has
control of the missiles, the first of which
became operational a few days ago.
The SASS, which have a range of about
150 miles but are ineffective against low-
flying planes, are located on the Libyan
coast at Sirte, officials said.
U.S. reconnaissance satellites have spot-
te SA5 sites at Tripoli and Bengasi but as
yet there are no launchers or missiles in
place there, according to in orme o icta s.
e i yans have been trained to operate
the SA5s but still need on-site help from the
Soviets, U.S. officials said.
So unsure are the Libyans of their capa-
bilities, the officials added, that if they were
to fire an SA5 on their own, they could be
expected to make sure that all their aircraft
were on the ground to avoid downing one by
mistake.
Moscow has sent about 200 missile spe-
cialists to Libya to prepare sites and help
operate the intricate gear, including radar,
which goes with the SA5, officials said.
Thus, any bombing of the Libyan SA5 sites
would risk killing Russians and setting up a
U.S.-Soviet confrontation.
The United States has two aircraft car-
riers, the USS Coral Sea and the USS Sar-
atoga, conducting flight operations near
Libya. But as of yesterday the planes had
stayed out of the airspace over the Gulf of
Sidra, which Qaddafi claims as Libyan ter-
ritory. Pentagon officials said warships es-
corting the carriers are likely to go into the
gulf to reassert international rights to that
waterway.
Libya would be outgunned in any aerial
dogfight with carrier planes, officials said,
which may explain Qaddafi's interest in the
SA5s as.a way to rattle his saber.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470020-7