On night of 14/15 April 1986, the 492nd TFS participated in Operation El Dorado Canyon, the air raid on Tripoli, Libya as a response to the West Berlin discotheque bombing, alongside the rest of the 48th TFW. The 492nd deployed with their F-111Fs to Taif Air Base, Saudi Arabia, as part of Operation Desert Shield on 2 September 1990, as a response to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From Taif Air Base, the unit launched strikes on Iraq as part of Operation Desert Storm between January and February 1991.