Also this morning, after yesterday’s traffic, we recorded the presence of a USasset off the Libyan coast.
It’ss the USArmy Bombardier CL-60 ARTEMIS (reg. N488CR – callsign BRIO68) departed from Costanta, Romania, which again operated off the coast of Cyrenaica.
Interestingly, the aircraft also operated beyond the so-called ‘Line of Death’, i.e. the limit of airspace and territorial waters that Gaddafi had designated as Libyan (not respecting international conventions and which was never recognised by anyone). Libya had claimed that the entire Gulf was their territory, at 32° 30′ N, with an exclusive 62-nautical-mile (115 km; 71 mi) fishing zone, which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted as “The Line of Death” in 1973.
Three incidents occurred in the area in 1981, 1986 and in 1989 between US Navy and Libyan Air Force.