{"id":27070,"date":"2020-08-06T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/06\/libya-is-turning-into-a-battle-lab-for-air-warfare\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:13:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:13:55","slug":"libya-is-turning-into-a-battle-lab-for-air-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nato-air-power\/2020\/08\/06\/libya-is-turning-into-a-battle-lab-for-air-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Libya is turning into a battle lab for air warfare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ROME \u2014 During Libya\u2019s proxy war this year, the skies over the North African country have filled with Turkish and Chinese drones as well as Russian MiG 29s and Sukhoi 24s, and Emirati Mirage 2000s \u2014 reportedly \u2014 with Turkish F-16s and Egyptian Rafales waiting in the wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian air defense systems have taken down drones while fighters, civilians and air bases have been bombed by jets as C-130s and Turkish A400M aircraft keep up deliveries of new weaponry and fighters into the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, Libya has been transformed this year into something of an air warfare laboratory, begging the question: What exactly is going on, who is winning and what has this conflict taught generals about modern air combat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn one level, Libya yet again simply underscores the value of air power \u2014 you do not want to get in a fight without it,\u201d said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conflict in lawless Libya began to escalate in April 2019 as local strongman Gen. Khalifa Haftar launched his campaign to take the capital Tripoli. Backed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and France, he felt confident going up against the U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli backed by Turkey, Italy and Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April last year, Chinese Wing Loong II drones operated by the UAE bombed civilian targets in the city, reflecting the recent and rapid procurement of Chinese drones around the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Chinese have been adept at selling drones in the Middle East, including to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Iraq. With the U.S. previously constrained in selling systems, the Chinese saw a gap in the market,\u201d Barrie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Men walk past a Chinese-made CAIG Wing Loong II medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), on display during the 2019 Dubai Airshow on November 18, 2019. (Photo by Karim Sahib\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Turkey has proved the exception. Around May 2019, it introduced its own TB2 drone into the fray, attacking Haftar\u2019s forces, knocking out Russian Pantsir air defense systems supporting him and helping end his ambitions to take Tripoli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTurkey has majored in UAV design and manufacture and likely used Libya in part as a test-and-adjust battle lab, and its systems are now \u2018combat proven\u2019. Its industry, like Roketsan, has also developed small, precision-guided munitions for UAVs,\u201d Barrie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second analyst said Turkey\u2019s use of its TB2 in Libya had been a game changer. \u201cTurkey decided it was OK to lose them from time to time, that they were semi-disposable, and that novel approach caught their enemy off guard,\u201d said Jalel Harchaoui of the Clingendael Institute in Holland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason? Cost. \u201cThey used to cost the Turks $1-1.5 million apiece to build, but thanks to economies of scale as production volumes rose, the cost has dropped to below $500,000, excluding the control station,\u201d Harchaoui explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that software and other technical changes boosted the TB2\u2032s efficiency and reconnaissance capabilities, which allowed them to find the right altitude to avoid the Russian Pantsir systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe performance of the Wing Loong IIs in the hands of the UAE has meanwhile been largely static. They didn\u2019t evolve, so they have been much less impressive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrie said Libya is also an example of the normalization of drone use in modern warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUAVs are a capability now pursued by state and nonstate actors alike. Obviously states can afford more capable, larger systems, while nonstate actors may have to make do with home-built systems akin to being made with Radio Shack-like components, or acquiring systems from state sponsors,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Libya, UAVs have suited this kind of ugly, attritional warfare against small, lightly armed units.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last July, a missile strike on a migrant center near Tripoli, which killed 53 people, was likely the work of the UAE, the BBC reported, quoting a confidential U.N. investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\t