Earlier this week, three Senegalese peacekeepers were killed and five seriously injured when their convoy hit an improvised explosive device (IED) on the road to Sévaré in central Mali. Such attacks have become common in UN peacekeeping. Fatalities due to malicious acts against peacekeepers doubled from 2021 to 2022, despite a recent downward trend, with 50% of those fatalities due to explosive ordnance incidents. Hostile attacks on peacekeepers decrease morale and undermine the willingness of UN member states to contribute personnel and carry out mission mandates. More comprehensive consideration of the role of the air domain and the strategic effect it can provide to UN peacekeeping could mitigate and respond to some of these risks, while also preparing peacekeepers to address emerging threats in mission contexts.
Aviation capabilities have been part of UN peacekeeping for decades. These have included assets such as fixed-wing aircraft and utility and attack helicopters, to the more recent deployment of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). The combined use of military and civilian air assets provides peacekeeping missions with mobility, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. In the right conditions, aviation assets can support efforts to deter attacks on the mission and protect civilians, serving as a key enabler to deliver on the mandates provided by the Security Council. However, peacekeeping missions continue to grapple with a range of challenges when it comes to their ability to effectively use air assets in missions.
The withdrawal of Ukrainian forces and the grounding of Russian aircraft in UN missions has brought into even clearer focus the significant gaps in air capabilities and force generation challenges across missions. Even when assets are available, host governments have interfered by delaying access to land for airfields, grounding flights, restricting night flights or denying flight safety assurances. Such measures can have dire implications for the safety and security of UN peacekeepers, particularly given the importance of mobility for missions.
Movement by air can mitigate some of the mobility challenges encountered by ground convoys, including unsurpassable or limited road infrastructure (e.g., eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo), harsh climates and flooding (e.g., during the rainy season in South Sudan), or the length of time to transport goods. In Mali, for instance, it can take up to four weeks for supply convoys to reach the furthest locations of the mission. Where the necessary infrastructure exists, movement by air can drastically reduce the time to move personnel and supplies, while also reducing the heightened risks of encountering an ambush or IED on the road.
However, the overstretched geographical deployment of some missions, coupled with an ongoing shortage of available air assets, has meant that a significant amount of mission resources is currently devoted to road convoys and force protection at the expense of conducting other mandated tasks. Even where air assets may be available, budgetary pressures may mean supplies are moved by road, despite the additional operational risks. Concerns about safety and security in the UN mission in Mali prompted the Egyptian government to suspend its contingent’s activities in July 2022, following the death of seven peacekeepers that year. This decision required a surge in air operations to maintain supply chains in the mission, but according to the Secretary-General, it wasn’t sustainable and disrupted the ability of the mission to implement other mandated priorities.
The security environment that modern peacekeepers serve in make the provision of timely casualty (CASEVAC) evacuation essential not only to support the safety and security of peacekeeping personnel but also ensure ‘the successful execution of mandated tasks’. While there have been improvements in training and the conduct of exercises to support more effective CASEVAC in missions, effective responses are often hampered by differences over command and control, the availability of equipped air assets with trained medical teams, and restrictions on night flights by host authorities (with implications for nighttime flying currency). This had deadly consequences in the Central African Republic in October 2022 when three Bangladeshi peacekeepers succumbed to their injuries from an IED attack when they were unable to be evacuated by air due to night flight restrictions. Such incidents undermine force generation efforts and negatively impact the mindset of mission personnel, who may lose faith that they will be supported when carrying out the mission mandate.
In addition to providing more mission mobility, air assets have a crucial role in supporting peacekeeping-intelligence and improving situational awareness. Smaller tactical UAS can form part of contingent owned equipment and are now utilized by some contingents to surveil the area ahead for threats while on patrol, providing another mechanism for force protection. Medium altitude platforms have been utilized in several missions to provide greater peacekeeping-intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, although some UN missions have been unable to utilize such assets due to restrictions imposed by the host government.
Peacekeeping missions are not the only actors that have been effectively utilizing these technologies. Cost and access are no longer a barrier to entry, meaning, the traditional advantage that the UN had over non-state armed groups in relation to air power is disappearing. Armed groups have utilized small consumer drone platforms for surveillance of targets and to launch attacks with improvised explosives in the Middle East and parts of Africa. Similar platforms have been adapted for use in the war in Ukraine. Such conflicts are challenging assumptions about air power, and demonstrating that it is no longer only the domain of advanced militaries. Missions need to be prepared to consider and adopt a range of countermeasures to address this emerging threat, and act as a deterrent to armed groups.
Any efforts to adopt a more coherent approach to the role of the air domain in UN peacekeeping will need to continue to assess the requirement for peacekeepers to actively work with and engage communities. An overreliance on air assets could isolate peacekeepers from ground realities and have a detrimental impact on efforts to protect civilians. But if these considerations are adequately balanced as part of a more comprehensive, strategic, and forward-looking approach to the use of aviation assets, then the strategic effects achieved could support missions in their efforts to protect civilians, while also improving the safety and security of peacekeepers.
This is the first in a series of commentary pieces fostering debate about the role of the air domain in UN peacekeeping. Pictured: Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, visits Timbuktu in northern Mali. UN Photo/Harandane Dicko.
Addressing Threats to UN Peacekeepers: The Potential of the Air Domain
By Lisa Sharland • Ilhan Dahir
Peacekeeping
Earlier this week, three Senegalese peacekeepers were killed and five seriously injured when their convoy hit an improvised explosive device (IED) on the road to Sévaré in central Mali. Such attacks have become common in UN peacekeeping. Fatalities due to malicious acts against peacekeepers doubled from 2021 to 2022, despite a recent downward trend, with 50% of those fatalities due to explosive ordnance incidents. Hostile attacks on peacekeepers decrease morale and undermine the willingness of UN member states to contribute personnel and carry out mission mandates. More comprehensive consideration of the role of the air domain and the strategic effect it can provide to UN peacekeeping could mitigate and respond to some of these risks, while also preparing peacekeepers to address emerging threats in mission contexts.
Aviation capabilities have been part of UN peacekeeping for decades. These have included assets such as fixed-wing aircraft and utility and attack helicopters, to the more recent deployment of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). The combined use of military and civilian air assets provides peacekeeping missions with mobility, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. In the right conditions, aviation assets can support efforts to deter attacks on the mission and protect civilians, serving as a key enabler to deliver on the mandates provided by the Security Council. However, peacekeeping missions continue to grapple with a range of challenges when it comes to their ability to effectively use air assets in missions.
The withdrawal of Ukrainian forces and the grounding of Russian aircraft in UN missions has brought into even clearer focus the significant gaps in air capabilities and force generation challenges across missions. Even when assets are available, host governments have interfered by delaying access to land for airfields, grounding flights, restricting night flights or denying flight safety assurances. Such measures can have dire implications for the safety and security of UN peacekeepers, particularly given the importance of mobility for missions.
Movement by air can mitigate some of the mobility challenges encountered by ground convoys, including unsurpassable or limited road infrastructure (e.g., eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo), harsh climates and flooding (e.g., during the rainy season in South Sudan), or the length of time to transport goods. In Mali, for instance, it can take up to four weeks for supply convoys to reach the furthest locations of the mission. Where the necessary infrastructure exists, movement by air can drastically reduce the time to move personnel and supplies, while also reducing the heightened risks of encountering an ambush or IED on the road.
However, the overstretched geographical deployment of some missions, coupled with an ongoing shortage of available air assets, has meant that a significant amount of mission resources is currently devoted to road convoys and force protection at the expense of conducting other mandated tasks. Even where air assets may be available, budgetary pressures may mean supplies are moved by road, despite the additional operational risks. Concerns about safety and security in the UN mission in Mali prompted the Egyptian government to suspend its contingent’s activities in July 2022, following the death of seven peacekeepers that year. This decision required a surge in air operations to maintain supply chains in the mission, but according to the Secretary-General, it wasn’t sustainable and disrupted the ability of the mission to implement other mandated priorities.
The security environment that modern peacekeepers serve in make the provision of timely casualty (CASEVAC) evacuation essential not only to support the safety and security of peacekeeping personnel but also ensure ‘the successful execution of mandated tasks’. While there have been improvements in training and the conduct of exercises to support more effective CASEVAC in missions, effective responses are often hampered by differences over command and control, the availability of equipped air assets with trained medical teams, and restrictions on night flights by host authorities (with implications for nighttime flying currency). This had deadly consequences in the Central African Republic in October 2022 when three Bangladeshi peacekeepers succumbed to their injuries from an IED attack when they were unable to be evacuated by air due to night flight restrictions. Such incidents undermine force generation efforts and negatively impact the mindset of mission personnel, who may lose faith that they will be supported when carrying out the mission mandate.
In addition to providing more mission mobility, air assets have a crucial role in supporting peacekeeping-intelligence and improving situational awareness. Smaller tactical UAS can form part of contingent owned equipment and are now utilized by some contingents to surveil the area ahead for threats while on patrol, providing another mechanism for force protection. Medium altitude platforms have been utilized in several missions to provide greater peacekeeping-intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, although some UN missions have been unable to utilize such assets due to restrictions imposed by the host government.
Peacekeeping missions are not the only actors that have been effectively utilizing these technologies. Cost and access are no longer a barrier to entry, meaning, the traditional advantage that the UN had over non-state armed groups in relation to air power is disappearing. Armed groups have utilized small consumer drone platforms for surveillance of targets and to launch attacks with improvised explosives in the Middle East and parts of Africa. Similar platforms have been adapted for use in the war in Ukraine. Such conflicts are challenging assumptions about air power, and demonstrating that it is no longer only the domain of advanced militaries. Missions need to be prepared to consider and adopt a range of countermeasures to address this emerging threat, and act as a deterrent to armed groups.
Any efforts to adopt a more coherent approach to the role of the air domain in UN peacekeeping will need to continue to assess the requirement for peacekeepers to actively work with and engage communities. An overreliance on air assets could isolate peacekeepers from ground realities and have a detrimental impact on efforts to protect civilians. But if these considerations are adequately balanced as part of a more comprehensive, strategic, and forward-looking approach to the use of aviation assets, then the strategic effects achieved could support missions in their efforts to protect civilians, while also improving the safety and security of peacekeepers.
This is the first in a series of commentary pieces fostering debate about the role of the air domain in UN peacekeeping. Pictured: Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, visits Timbuktu in northern Mali. UN Photo/Harandane Dicko.
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