Libyan air defense capabilities were “badly damaged” by coalition bombing, allowing the establishment of an “effective” air interdiction area, a senior Pentagon official said on Sunday.
“The bombing was very effective and seriously damaged Muammar Gaddafi regime’s anti-aircraft defense, announced Vice Admiral Bill Gortney in a news conference held in Washington.
The main threat to U.S., British and French military aircraft that acted so far in Libya is the long-range surface-to-air SA-5 missiles, but the ability of the pro-Gaddafi forces to launch them was strongly diminished, according to Vice Admiral Gortney.
Libyan Air Force showed no signs of activity and we did not detect any radar action – which serve to detect enemy airplanes – in the air defense points that we hit”, he added. In a general manner, air surveillance radar coverage appear to be currently limited to areas around Tripoli and Sirte, the fiefdom of Colonel Gaddafi.
U.S. and Britain have launched a total of 124 Tomahawk missiles on Libyan enemy positions on Saturday.