How F-14s Shot Down Libyan Su-22s

On August 19th 1981, two American F-14 Tomcats were caught in an intense air to air dogfight with a pair of Libyan Su-22 fighters. The Su-22’s got the drop on them and opened fire first. This engagement was the first time the unproven F-14 saw combat, and was instrumental in showing that the U.S. Navy was a way to enforce international law with force if needed while proving the F-14’s combat capabilities. In this video we’re going to talk about why Americans were fighting Libyans, how it all went down, and the insane engineering behind the F-14 that made it all possible.

Written by: Chris Cappy and Justin Taylor
Edited by: Arun

First introduced in 1974, the Grunman F-14 Tomcat was the American Navy’s primary air superiority fighter and naval interceptor aircraft. Designed to be carrier capable, it was a twin engine, variable-sweep wing aircraft, that replaced the aging F-4 phantoms in the fleet.

Each cost the Navy about $38 million at the time, adjusted for inflation that’s $135.5 million in today’s money, and was the first fourth generation aircraft in the American arsenal, also nicknamed the “teen series” with the F-15, 16, and F/A-18 following the Tomcat later.

In 1973, Libyan dictator and future head of the Condoleeza Rice fan club, Muammar Gaddafi cut off international access to the Gulf of (SID-rah) Sidra, a massive 22,000 square mile section of the mediterranean off of Libya’s northern coast. His military forces aggressively policed the area, and Gaddafi declared the demarcation line along the border of the Gulf as “The Line of Death.”. Between 1973 and 1980, Libya’s military would often harass nearby American and NATO navies stationed in the Mediterranean, however the United States did not recognize Gaddafi’s claims of ownership in the Gulf, and asserted that it was still considered international waters.

When countries, especially dictatorships, claim to own a piece of the ocean that falls outside of their national borders, the normal response from other countries wanting to sail in said water is what’s called a Freedom of Navigation operation, or FON. These usually consist of Navy battle groups being sent into the contested areas in question and saying “What are you gonna do about it?” National claims become a lot fuzzier in the ocean compared to clear land borders, and according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, territorial waters only extend 12 nautical miles off the coast. Navies around the world use Freedom of Navigation ops as a way to ensure countries don’t start claiming crazy amounts of the ocean for themselves, and things like international trade don’t get disrupted.

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[erf]

As everyone who ever took a long family road trip on the back seat with their siblings knows, this is exactly what happens when "Can't get mad, not touching you" gets out of hand.

[fizz]

My father worked on the F-14D when he worked for Grumman he offen says that if production of the F-14 didn't stop when it did Grumman would have likely not had to merge with Northrop and he would likely still be an engineer. He still keeps models of the plains he has worked on the shelves of his office and a model of the F-14 proudly placed on his desk.

[smotherytable]

Sidewinder "I didn't miss, I was just showing off"

[xiphoid]

The story is correct, but the picture you used for the Su-22 Fitters were those of Mig-23 Floggers.

[samb]

I felt this, my grandfather had a similar story at least for the first half of his long time at Northrop Grumman! He worked on everything from the wild cats all the way to the Tom cats.

[courtgantry]

Fun fact Tom Cruise was in the area during his vacation during that time

[gagetrent]

thank you for making amazing original content! very refreshing seeing a new notification from taskandpurpose!

[bdrenfro]

The camo green "Foxbat" shown is actually a Mig 23 or 27 (27 is the ground attack variant) 6:46

The actual Mig 25 Foxbat is huge and ungodly fast. The Migs in the engagement were 23's - Floggers. Just fyi!

[jaybee]

One of those aircraft is displayed at the Reagan Library (they also have the Air Force One 707, SAM 27000). Great trip!

[willadeefriesland]

The US Navy and 'the Barbary Coast'... Thank you for the video putting context for a time I lived through...

[RaoulDuke_]

Bro you look just like your grandpa !!! ❤ respect Cappy ! 🇺🇸

[joespy]

my grandfather alo worked on the F14 tomcat. thank you for this video

[Myusername]

The two aircraft showing as one was in Top Gun as well!

[acetheprincep]

Cappys one of those rare channels thats lost nothing despite releasing more regularly.

[johnnycaps]

The F-14 IS the Top Gun! Great documentary.

[JoystickJockie]

i could binge video like this on air-to-air interdictions for years i swear!!! i was glued to the screen the whole video!! awesome stuff please more :)

[batprime]

Hey Taskandpurpose! MSN news wrote an article about one of your videos

[Phozz]

Just read "The accidental engineer" about the story of Ray Holt. He worked at Garrett AiResearch, which was subcontracted by Grumman to develop the first microprocessor for the F14 Central Air Data Computer (beating the Intel 4004 by 2 yrs). Very interesting story.

[john]

Excellent video. You do a great job of keeping things interesting and informative for novices (like me), while providing the in-depth coverage for the more sophisticated.

I enjoyed the family history at the end, too :)

[Crimethoughtfull]

Very cool topic for one of your videos--and like the personal family connection at the end.