Thread by @DefenseNigeria

In early January 1987, Chadian president Hissene Habres troops seized the Libyan held town of Fada in northern Chad. Remember Habres? ..(the Chadian strongman who invaded and occupied Nigerian islands in Lake Chad but paid a terrible price for his misadventure.

In retaliation, Libyan fighter jets crossed the red line to hit Oum Chalouba and Arada. A few bombs struck French forces. Rather than respond in kind as was expected, French fighters began carrying out patrols near the 16th parallel.

Paris had something bigger in mind. In retaliation for Libya crossing of the red line and bombing French troops, the French planned to attack a Libyan base either Maaten Al Sahra, Aouzou or Ouadi Doum. They knew the Libyans were expecting reprisal raids and had rushed to

..reinforce its air defence missile batteries. A French Mirage IV recon plane confirmed the presence of five SA-6 missile sites plus eight quad-gun ZSU 23-4s.

They wanted to strike when the Libyans least expected. Four Sepecat Jaguars would strike, each jet carrying one

AS-37 Martel guided missile. Each jet carrying one AS-37 Martel guided missile. This time, the objective was to destroy the base’s air-defense radars. For greater security in advance of the raid, the 30 Jaguars based in N’Djamena scattered to a greater number of airfields.

Back in Chad 12 Jaguars went to Libreville in Gabon. Two Mirage F.1CRs flew to Bangui in Central African Republic along with the four Jaguars of EC 3/3. Eight Eight Mirage F.1Cs remained in Chad.

With such troubling levels of activity along Nigeria's periphery, NAF Jaguars also began flying combat air patrols along the border with memories of the April 1983 invasion of Lake Chad. Nigeria had no desire to be caught by surprise again.

On Jan. 6, 1987, French Jaguars prepared to launch from Bangui. Three Jaguars successfully took off, crossed the red line into Libyan airspace and probed Libyan defenses, trying to force the Libyan radar operators to switch on their sensors.

The Libyans didnt take the bait. The same day, the French jets that had scattered across the region converged again in Chad to execute the next mission from an air base less vulnerable to monitoring.

To encourage the Ouadi Doum radars to activate, French planners decided to send a patrol of Mirage F.1CRs to trigger the radar at Faya-Largeau, whose operators should in turn alert their comrades controlling the radar at Ouadi Doum.

In the event that the Libyans do not swallow the bait, the French prepared a second option, an attack on the Libyan air base at Aouzou by eight Jaguars armed with rocket launchers.

The Libyans did not take the bait. Frustrated the air commander board to make one last run … because it was his birthday.

It was during this last pass that the Libyan air defense radar at Ouadi Doum finally began to emit. The French force had a target.

But it wanted more. It was 11:00 when the two pilots climbed into their Mirages to tickle the radar at Faya Largeau in order to trigger more radars at Ouadi Doum. The Libyan air defence radars detected them, as they had intended. The Libyans had panicked.

The air defence radars began to emit continuously. The time to attack was now. The Jaguars were 50 miles south of their objective. At a distance of 35 miles from Ouadi Doum, the Jaguars AS-37 missile detected the Libyan search radars signal.

The Jaguars then climbed to 300 feet to facilitate radar lock and fired its missile. The AS-37 struck its target.

The second pair of Jaguars failed to achieve lock and turned around at very low altitude. At the same time two Mirage's were flying 500 feet above the ground. A ZSU "Shilka" FC Radar locked onto the Mirage.

Both Mirage pilots quickly descended to 100 feet, punched

afterburners and accelerated away for a distance of 125 miles with a Libyan ZSU "Shilka" and MiG-23 in hot pursuit. The MiG followed the two French jets for around 60 miles before turning around, probably owing to a lack of fuel.

Meanwhile two Jaguars climbed to 15,000 feet for refueling. They then ascended to 30,000 feet and returned to N’Djamena, landing just behind the Mirage F.1Cs.

The French mission was a success and helped to restrain Libyan ambitions in Chad.