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| commander1 = Ronald Reagan | commander2 = Muammar Gaddafi | strength1 = | strength2 = | casualties1 = 1 F-111 shot down/crashed 2 aircrew killed | casualties2 = 45 soldiers and officials killed 3–5 IL-76 transports destroyed 14 MiG-23s destroyed 2 helicopters destroyed 5 major ground radars destroyed〔Pollack, Kenneth M. ''Arabs At War, Military Effectiveness 1948–1991'' University of Nebraska Press, 2002〕 | casualties3 = 15-30 Libyan civilians killed | campaignbox = }} The 1986 United States bombing of Libya, code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised air strikes by the United States against Libya on Tuesday, 15 April 1986. The attack was carried out by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps via air strikes, in response to the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. There were 40 reported Libyan casualties, and one US plane was shot down, resulting in the death of two airmen. ==Origins== Libya represented a high priority for President Ronald Reagan shortly after his 1981 inauguration. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was firmly anti-Israel and had supported violent organizations in the Palestinian territories and Syria. There were reports that Libya was attempting to become a nuclear power〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1968 to 1990: Program Beginnings )〕 and Gaddafi's occupation of Chad, which was rich in uranium, was of major concern to the United States. Gaddafi's alignment with the Soviet Union and his ambitions to set up a federation of Arab and Muslim states in North Africa were also alarming to US interests. Furthermore, then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig wanted to take proactive measures against Gaddafi because he had been using former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives to help set up terrorist camps (most notably Edwin P. Wilson and Frank E. Terpil). After the December 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, which killed 19 and wounded approximately 140, Gaddafi indicated that he would continue to support the Red Army Faction, the Red Brigades, and the Irish Republican Army as long as the European governments supported anti-Gaddafi Libyans. The Foreign Minister of Libya also called the massacres "heroic acts".〔Seale, Patrick. ''Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire''. Hutchinson, 1992, p. 245.〕 After years of occasional skirmishes with Libya over Libyan territorial claims to the Gulf of Sidra, the United States contemplated a military attack to strike targets within the Libyan mainland. In March 1986, the United States, asserting the limit to territorial waters according to international law, sent a carrier task force to the region. Libya responded with aggressive counter-maneuvers on 24 March that led to the Gulf of Sidra incident. On 5 April 1986, Libyan agents bombed "La Belle" nightclub in West Berlin, killing three people, one being a U.S. Serviceman, and injuring 229 people who were spending the evening there. West Germany and the United States obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany who were involved in the attack. More detailed information was retrieved years later when Stasi archives were investigated by the reunited Germany. Libyan agents who had carried out the operation from the Libyan embassy in East Germany were identified and prosecuted by Germany in the 1990s.〔(Flashback: The Berlin disco bombing ). BBC on 13 November 2001.〕 After several unproductive days of meeting with European and Arab nations, and influenced by an American serviceman's death, Ronald Reagan, on the 14th of April, ordered an air raid on Libya. Eighteen F-111F strike aircraft of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying from RAF Lakenheath and supported by four EF-111A Ravens of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing from RAF Upper Heyford in England, in conjunction with fifteen A-6, A-7, F/A-18 attack aircraft and EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS ''Saratoga'', USS ''America'' and USS ''Coral Sea'' on station in the Gulf of Sidra, struck five targets at 02:00 on 15 April, with the stated objectives of sending a message and reducing Libya's ability to support and train terrorists. Reagan warned that "if necessary, () shall do it again."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1986 Year in Review: Strike on Qaddafi )〕 The attack mission against Libya had been preceded in October 1985 by an exercise in which the 20th TFW stationed at RAF Upper Heyford airbase in the UK, which was equipped with F-111Es, received a top secret order to launch a simulated attack mission on 18 October, with ten F-111Es armed with eight 500 lb practice bombs, against a simulated airfield located in Newfoundland, Canada south of CFB Goose Bay. The mission was designated Operation Ghost Rider. The mission was a full rehearsal for a long range strike against Libya. The mission was completed successfully, with the exception of one aircraft that had all but one of its eight bombs hang up on one of its wing racks. The lessons learned were passed on to the 48th TFW which was equipped with the newer "F" models of the F-111.〔Warren Thompson "To the Bay and Back" Air Forces Monthly May 2010 published by Key Publishing Ltd〕 Elements of the then-secret 4450th Tactical Group (USAF) were put on standby to fly the strike mission against Libya. Over 30 F-117s had already been delivered to Tactical Air Command (USAF) and were operating from Tonopah Test Range Airport in Nevada. Commanders in the North Africa/Mediterranean theaters knew nothing about the capabilities of the F-117, or that the aircraft even existed. Within an hour of the planned launch of the F-117s, the Secretary of Defense scrubbed the stealth mission, fearing a compromise of the secret aircraft and its development program. The air strike was carried out with conventional US Navy and US Air Force aircraft. The F-117 would remain completely unknown to the world for several more months, before being unveiled in 1988 and featured prominently in media coverage of Operation Desert Storm. For the Libyan raid, the United States was denied overflight rights by France, Spain, and Italy as well as the use of European continental bases, forcing the Air Force portion of the operation to be flown around France and Spain, over Portugal and through the Straits of Gibraltar, adding 1,300 miles (2,100 km) each way and requiring multiple aerial refuelings. The French refusal alone added 2,800 km and was imposed despite the fact that France had itself been the target of terrorism directed by the Gaddafi government in Libya. French president Mitterrand refused overflight clearance because the United States was interested in limited action in Libya while France was more interested in major action that would remove Gaddafi from power.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1986 United States bombing of Libya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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