High-Tech Firepower

The battle of Sidra was thoroughly modern warfare, fought on both sides by forces aiming at over-the-horizon targets and using highly sophisticated equipment. For the U.S., the encounter offered battle testing for two Navy missiles and the first opportunity to see how its planes could elude Soviet- built SA-5 ground-to-air missiles. A guide to the principal hardware:

HARM, the gold-plated ($283,000 each) high-speed antiradiation missile, which has been criticized by some Pentagon officials for poor test performance, succeeded in twice disabling a Libyan SA-5 radar station. Fired from the wing of a Navy A-7 Corsair jet, the missile homed in on signals emanating from the radar. A 14-ft.-long, 800-lb. weapon, HARM carries a 46-lb. high-explosive warhead over a range of about 40 miles. The Libyan radar resumed operations within hours of both attacks, but during a full-fledged battle, that would allow time for U.S. bombers to knock out the missile launchers.

The Harpoon missile sank at least two Libyan patrol boats and fired on three other naval "targets" with uncertain results. Designed initially as a surface-to-surface weapon, it scored one of its kills from an A-6 Intruder jet equipped to carry it. The 15-ft. missiles skim the waterline at 600 m.p.h. and smack into the target with a 500-lb. warhead. Powered by a small jet engine, the Harpoon has a range of some 50 miles.

The EA-6B Prowler helped divert the Libyan-fired SA-5 Gammon missiles that touched off the skirmishing. After the incoming missiles were detected, the Prowler's five underwing jamming devices mimicked the radar signature of U.S. aircraft, creating dozens of false targets at a safe distance from U.S. ships. Meanwhile, the U.S.S. Ticonderoga's advanced electronic Aegis system scanned the gulf for enemy planes.

Against this array, the Libyans fired the SA-5s, the Soviets' chief long- range surface-to-air missiles. Weighing about five tons apiece, the 54- ft.- long weapons are designed primarily to engage slow-moving targets like B-52 bombers. But Moscow was doubtless unhappy to note that speedy U.S. fighters could not only outmaneuver the SA-5s but also, evidently, divert them.

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