The International Community's Betrayal of UNAMID

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6.0 Political issuesThe problem of securing helicopters forU.N. operations may not simply berestricted to availability; it may alsoconcern national political commitments.The deployment of helicopters to supportpeacekeeping operations can carry acertain degree of political baggage.Countries may be perceived as actors in aconflict no matter how even-handed andimpartial the deployment is intended tobe.Furthermore, the loss of an aircraft tohostile action during a peacekeepingdeployment, particularly if it results infatalities of troops and aircrew, couldcause domestic public support for themission to seriously decline. 22Demands for helicopters from the leadingcontributing nations and NATO membersto support peacekeeping missions will alsohave to compete with demands from otherquarters for rotary lift. Ongoing militaryoperations in Afghanistan have asignificant appetite for helicopters toassist combat in this mountainous countrywith its harsh climate. Helicopters are thepreferred means of mobility given thatthey are harder to attack than vehicleconvoys while also being able to travel athigh speeds and can operate without arunway. In November 2007, NATOSecretary General Jaap de Hoop Schefferasked alliance members to increase thenumber of helicopters based inAfghanistan. 237.0 Current helicopter availabilityestimations by NATO members and leadingU.N. aircraft contributing nationsBelgium, Canada, Estonia, Iceland andLuxembourg all lack suitable helicopterswhich have a basic conformity in terms ofpayload, range and accommodation withthe U.N. requirements stipulated above.Meanwhile, Norway, Germany and theUnited Kingdom do not appear to havesurplus aircraft which could be donated toa U.N. peacekeeping operation.However, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, India,Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands,Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania,Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey,16
Ukraine, and the U.S. have some surplusaircraft which could be made available.In order to produce estimations on thenumber of helicopters which a countrymight be able to deploy, it is important tocalculate the number of aircraft needed tosustain current operations, along with thenumber of aircraft required for domesticobligations such as training, crewproficiency, MRO rotations, and upgradeand retrofit programmes.7.1 BulgariaThe Bulgarian air force operates Mil Mi-17and Eurocopter AS-532AL aircraft, ofwhich it has 18 and eight airframesrespectively. 24 Bulgaria is not reported tohave any of these aircraft deployedabroad supporting overseas commitments.Given that up to 30 percent of the fleetmay be involved in domestic duties(training/proficiency/exercise, MRO;upgrade and retrofit) this could mean thatthe country has around 18 aircraftavailable to support internationalpeacekeeping efforts. Based on theguideline that three helicopters arerequired to maintain a single machine in arolling deployment to an operationaltheatre, the Bulgarian air force might beable to provide around six aircraft tosupport U.N. peacekeeping operation.7.2 Czech RepublicWith a fleet of around three Mil Mi-8s andup to 37 Mi-17I/Ish, the Vzdušné sílyArmády České republiky (Czech Air Force)has an impressive inventory of medium lifthelicopters. 25 With around 12 of thesemachines estimated to be involved innational commitments at any one time,the Czech government might be able tomake up to 28 aircraft available tosupport peacekeeping operations, whichcould allow for a rolling deployment of upto nine aircraft.However, the Czech government isthought to be under significant pressureto deploy any surplus helicopters toAfghanistan to support ISAF operations. InMay 2008, the U.S. government wasreported to be leading an initiative tofinance the upgrade of several of thecountry’s Mil-17s to outfit them withNATO-compatible equipment such asnight-vision and self-defence systems,identification friend-or-foe transpondersand secure radio communications. 26 TheU.N. might have to compete with NATO insecuring any Czech air force medium lifthelicopters to support the organisations’peacekeeping efforts.17
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 16 and 17: publically available information on
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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