1st Edition

Air Power in UN Operations Wings for Peace

By A. Walter Dorn Copyright 2015
    392 Pages
    by Routledge

    388 Pages
    by Routledge

    Air power for warfighting is a story that's been told many times. Air power for peacekeeping and UN enforcement is a story that desperately needs to be told. For the first-time, this volume covers the fascinating range of aerial peace functions. In rich detail it describes: aircraft transporting vital supplies to UN peacekeepers and massive amounts of humanitarian aid to war-affected populations; aircraft serving as the 'eyes in sky' to keep watch for the world organization; and combat aircraft enforcing the peace. Rich poignant case studies illuminate the past and present use of UN air power, pointing the way for the future. This book impressively fills the large gap in the current literature on peace operations, on the United Nations and on air power generally.

    I: The UN's First “Air Force”; 1: Planning, Organizing, and Commanding the Air Operation in the Congo, 1960; 2: Peacekeepers in Combat: Fighter Jets and Bombers in the Congo, 1961–1963; 3: A Fine Line: Use of Force, the Cold War, and Canada's Air Support for the UN Organization in the Congo; II: Airlift: Lifeline for UN Missions; 4: Above the Rooftop of the World: Canadian Air Operations in Kashmir and Along the India–Pakistan Border; 5: Humanitarian Relief in Haiti, 2010: Honing the Partnership between the US Air Force and the UN; 6: Flying Humanitarians: The UN Humanitarian Air Service; III: Aerial Surveillance: Eyes in the Sky; 7: Aerial Surveillance: Eyes in the Sky; 8: UN Observer Group in Lebanon: Aerial Surveillance During a Civil War, 1958; 9: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Supporting UN Operations: A Commercial Service Model; IV: The UN and No-fly Zones; 10: The UN Iraq–Kuwait Observer Mission and the Southern No-fly Zone, 1991–2003; 11: Observing Air Power at Work in Sector Sarajevo, 1993–1994: A Personal Account; V: Combat: Enforcing the Peace; 12: Air Operations in Somalia: “Black Hawk Down” Revisited; 13: Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia, 1995: Humanitarian Constraints in Aerospace Warfare; 14: Combat Air Power in the Congo, 2003–; 15: Allied Air Power over Libya; VI: Evolving Capabilities; 16: Advances in Aviation for UN Peacekeeping: A View from UN Headquarters; 17: Peace from Above: Envisioning the Future of UN Air Power; Afterword: Some Reflections

    Biography

    A. Walter Dorn is Professor of Defence Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) and chair of the Department of Security and International Affairs at the Canadian Forces College (CFC). As an 'operational professor', he has visited many UN missions and gained direct experience in field missions. He has served in Ethiopia as a UNDP consultant, at UN headquarters as a training adviser and as a consultant with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He has provided guidance to the UN on introducing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to the Eastern Congo.

    ’I welcome this unique volume on air power in UN operations. It provides a close look at the ways peacekeeping and enforcement can be facilitated from the air. It provides an impressive and wide-ranging examination of air power applications from the past and points to how these can be made more effective in the future.’ Lieutenant-General The Hon. Roméo A. Dallaire (retired) ’Combining rigorous analysis with compelling first-hand experience, and awareness of new technologies with deft appreciation of history, this book provides a compelling account of the use of air power in UN operations which provides both rich insight into its possibilities and frank advice about its limitations and management. Comprehensive and authoritative, it will be core reading for analysts and practitioners alike for years to come.’ Alex J. Bellamy, Griffith University, Australia and International Peace Institute ’Since 1945 when the United Nations was created in San Francisco, nations often look to this international organization to keep or restore global peace. Professor Walter Dorn's outstanding anthology provides a much needed examination of the UN's air power capabilities for global intervention to halt war-fighting. He and his expert colleagues address, lucidly and with fresh insights, several case studies in which UN air power has played a role in peacekeeping; they examine such key questions as how and under what circumstances the UN has used air power, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.’ Loch K. Johnson, University of Georgia, USA 'This authoritative volume is a one-of-a-kind reference tool on aviation in peace operations, from logistics to combat, from the Sixties to the present. Using primary sources and personal narrative, it is deeply knowledgeable at both the operational and tactical levels of this important and under-studied subject.' William J. Durch, The Stimson Center, Washington DC, USA 'This fascinating book highlights the many c