The International Community's Betrayal of UNAMID

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publically available information on currentNATO member and leading U.N. aircraftcontributing nations’ helicopter strengthsand commitments suggests that thesecountries have significant spare capacitywhich it could make available to supportU.N. missions.5.0 Availability of suitable aircraftAlthough the paper strength of NATOmembers and the leading U.N. aircraftcontributing countries in terms of mediumand heavy lift utility helicopters isimpressive, there are questions regardingthe suitability of these aircraft for socalled‘out-of-area’ operations in placessuch as Darfur.NATO’s helicopter fleets include legacyaircraft from the days of the Cold Warwhen the helicopter’s task would primarilybe to perform intra-theatre lift in CentralEurope to reinforce and resupply groundtroop formations in peacetime, or in theevent of a conflict with the Warsaw Pact. 17That said, Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook twinrotor helicopter has a particularly robustconstruction and has emerged as a toughworkhorse in the hot weather andmountainous terrain of Afghanistan. It hasa Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) of10,941-kg (22,798-lb) or around 33troops, with a range of up to 741 km (400nm). 18 However within the countriessurveyed, only Greece, Italy, theNetherlands, Spain, the United Kingdomand the U.S. possess these aircraft.Newer medium utility helicopter designssuch as the AgustaWestland AW-101 andthe Eurocopter NH-90 have similarlyimpressive weight, accommodation andrange capabilities but have only enteredservice in small numbers. In the case ofthe AW-101, Denmark, Portugal and theUK have around 48 of the troop-carryingTactical Transport Helicopter (TTH)version between them. Meanwhile, withinthe alliance, Germany, Italy, Norway arethe only countries which have so farreceived their NH-90s, with the Belgian AirComponent, Aviation Légère de l’Armée deTerre (French Army Light Aviation),Hellenic Army, Exército Português(Portuguese Army), Ejército de Tierra andEjército del Aire (Spanish Army andSpanish Air Force) expected to receivetheir machines over the next five years.The rest of NATO’s medium helicopterinventory is made up of Cold War-eradesigns such as the Eurocopter AS-14
332/532 Puma family of rotary aircraft(see Appendix). The situation is a littleimproved by the former Warsaw Pactmembers who have joined NATO such asBulgaria, Romania and Poland along withIndia, Pakistan and Ukraine. Thesecountries are equipped with a significantnumber of Mil Mi-8 and Mi-17 medium-liftaircraft, which are known for their robustconstruction. However some of theseaircraft may require the installation ofsubsystems such as FLIR or SAM selfdefencesbefore they would be adequatefor peacekeeping tasks.This is also the case for medium lifthelicopters operated by the WesternEuropean members of the NATO alliancewhich might lack the necessarysubsystems to support U.N. peacekeepingoperations. Not all of the aircraft ownedby the countries surveyed might be fittedwith the self-defence systems to allowthem to operate with adequate protectionin a region which could host a significantnumber of SAM threats. 19 Sudan is onesuch country with a high degree of SAMsystems, in particular highly-mobile9K32M Strela-2 (NATO reporting name‘SA-7 Grail’) MANPADS (Man Portable AirDefence Systems) which can be operatedby a single individual and which have thecapability to disable or destroy ahelicopter. 20To make matters more complex, severalNATO members are in the process ofhelicopter fleet renewal initiatives. 21 Asdiscussed above with the NH-90, manyNATO members are preparing to retiretheir older aircraft to replace them withnewer helicopters such as the NH-90 andAW-101. The result is that the designswhich are being replaced are towards theend of their active lives and are thereforemore maintenance-intensive to keepflying.At the same time, NATO members arefaced with an awkward situation by which,due to manufacturing delays on the NH-90, these aircraft are entering servicearound two years later than originallyplanned. The result is that there will befurther delays until the aircraft can becertified as fully operational and ready foractive service.This report has taken a survey of themedium lift machines now available to theNATO membership and the leading U.N.aircraft contributing nations, whichconform to the range and payloadrequirements stipulated by the U.N. Whilethe countries surveyed have thousand ofhelicopters in its combined fleet, only aproportion of these machines will adhereto the needs of the U.N. for the Darfurmission.15
Page 1: GroundedThe International Community
Page 5 and 6: Organizations endorsing this report
Page 7 and 8: UNAMID deployment; no longer would
Page 9 and 10: to comply fully with the U.N. requi
Page 12 and 13: The U.N. expects helicopters perfor
Page 14 and 15: service for the Greek population. 4
Page 18 and 19: 6.0 Political issuesThe problem of
Page 20 and 21: 7.3 DenmarkThe Flyvevåbnet (Royal
Page 22 and 23: deployments do not always use the l
Page 24 and 25: around 15 Mi-8 and Mi-17 aircraft.
Page 26 and 27: support U.N. operations, which woul
Page 28 and 29: 9.0 Appendix: NATO medium lift heli
Page 30 and 31: 10.0 Appendix: Summary of Available
Page 32 and 33: 14 Conversation with EU press repre
Page 34: 47 ibid48 ibid49 Annual Review of G

The International Community's Betrayal of UNAMID

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