Special to WorldTribune.com
CAIRO — Libya has procured Soviet-origin fighter-jets.
Arab diplomatic sources said the Libyan Air Force has acquired four Sukhoi Su-27 fighter-jets from unidentified suppliers. They said the warplanes arrived in Libya in late December 2014 for the military commanded by Maj. Gen. Khalifa Hafter.
“These are new aircraft purchased through third parties,” a source said.
The sources said Hafter would deploy the new warplanes to sustain attacks on the Qatari-backed Libyan Dawn, in control of Tripoli since the summer of 2014. They said the Libyan Air Force has been exhausted and was meeting increasing difficulty in operating its 1970s-era aircraft.
Until the latest shipment, the air force operates around eight Su-24 aircraft. The entire air force was said to contain some 30 aircraft, including MiG-21 and -23 as well as L-39 trainers.
Libya’s Hafter procures fighter-jets to counter Qatar’s Libyan Dawn added by World Tribune on
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