Early Call

Libya's relations with Sudan became strained after Qadhafi condemned Sudanese support for President Anwar al Sadat of Egypt and for the Camp David accords of September 1978. Libya was particularly annoyed by the steadily improving relations between Sudan and Egypt during the closing years of the Numayri regime, which culminated eventually in an Egyptian-Sudanese integration charter that provided Egypt with an air base in Sudan that could serve as a counterweight to Libyan regional power.

Egyptian President Mubarak asked the United States to send Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft (AWACS) to monitor Libya's flights and activity toward Sudan in February 1983. Washington charged Qadhafi with planning a coup in Sudan, and the US Ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick stated: "The US has a strong strategic interest in assuring that Qadhafi is not able to upset governments or to intervene militarily in other countries, as is currently happening in Chad." USCENTCOM deployed a small force of E-3s and the carrier USS Nimitz to Egypt to forestall a Libyan attack on Sudan. By 20 Feb 1983 the crisis had passed.

After an incident in which a Libyan plane allegedly bombed Khartum, Sudan on 18 March 1983, Sudan and Egypt appealed for assistance. The United States responded on very short-notice, and the 964th Airborne Warning And Control Squadron deployed four AWACS to Egypt for a Joint Chiefs of Staff directed operation called Early Call to monitor Libyan flights toward Sudan. Crews were divided with two going to Sudan for operation Arid Farmer and the other two remaining to take part in the August 1983 Bright Star, a Central Air Force deployment to Egypt which was more than a training exercise.