French fighter jets shot down a Libyan warplane, amid allegations that forces loyal to leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi violated the country's UN-sanctioned no-fly zone. The Libyan warplane, a Soko G-2 Galeb, was flying over Misrata prior to being shot down by the French jets, a U.S. defense official told Fox News on Thursday. The incident is believed to be the first time a Libyan jet was sent into Libyan airspace since the coalition bombing began, and the first time a warplane was shot down since the coalition began bombing Libya. During a press conference in Paris, French military officials said its fighter jets attacked an air base 150 miles inland from the Mediterranean coast overnight. The coalition airstrikes against Libya had been a "success," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday. A Soko G-2 Galeb, according to The Encyclopedia of Modern Warplanes and other aviation sources, is a two-seat, single-engine ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft developed in Yugoslavia. The plane, which can be equipped with light bombs and rockets, is capable of reaching a maximum speed of 440 knots, roughly the same speed as a passenger jet. Production began in 1964 and ceased in 1985.