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Helicopter Shortage Plagues International Missions
by
findingDulcinea Staff
by Josh Katz
Hampering international efforts in locations such as Chad and Afghanistan, the shortage may be more about policy than about numbers.
Hampering international efforts in locations such as Chad and Afghanistan, the shortage may be more about policy than about numbers.
30-Second Summary
The European Union waited until February 2008 to send troops to Chad, a neighbor of Sudan, partly because it could not obtain enough helicopters for the mission earlier.
Similarly, in November 2007, Aviation Week Intelligence Network reported that, “The helicopter shortage is the ‘single biggest operational problem’ that is hampering the day-to-day operations” of NATO’s Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which consists of 41,000 troops.
Helicopters are a vital component to military and peacekeeping efforts throughout the world. The aircraft are known as “force-multipliers,” because they increase the efficiency of small units. Helicopters boost troop mobility in the difficult terrain of countries like Afghanistan, and are integral in neutralizing the threat of roadside improvised explosive devices.
But the number of helicopters is not the problem: Europe has more than 2,000 and the U.S. boasts more than 6,000. Instead, the shortage is a result of the considerable manpower needed for maintenance and the hesitance to send valuable machinery to dangerous locales. In other words, says the International Relations and Security Network, the issue is a lack of “political will.”
Mark Leon Goldberg, a writer in residence for the United Nations Foundation and a senior correspondent with the American Prospect, criticizes countries for failing to supply Darfur with badly needed helicopters. “The crunch for helicopters is simply the latest manifestation of member states’ real disinterest in mustering the political will to match rhetoric with action on Darfur.”
Similarly, in November 2007, Aviation Week Intelligence Network reported that, “The helicopter shortage is the ‘single biggest operational problem’ that is hampering the day-to-day operations” of NATO’s Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which consists of 41,000 troops.
Helicopters are a vital component to military and peacekeeping efforts throughout the world. The aircraft are known as “force-multipliers,” because they increase the efficiency of small units. Helicopters boost troop mobility in the difficult terrain of countries like Afghanistan, and are integral in neutralizing the threat of roadside improvised explosive devices.
But the number of helicopters is not the problem: Europe has more than 2,000 and the U.S. boasts more than 6,000. Instead, the shortage is a result of the considerable manpower needed for maintenance and the hesitance to send valuable machinery to dangerous locales. In other words, says the International Relations and Security Network, the issue is a lack of “political will.”
Mark Leon Goldberg, a writer in residence for the United Nations Foundation and a senior correspondent with the American Prospect, criticizes countries for failing to supply Darfur with badly needed helicopters. “The crunch for helicopters is simply the latest manifestation of member states’ real disinterest in mustering the political will to match rhetoric with action on Darfur.”
Headline Link: The helicopter crunch
According to Thomas Withington of ISN Security Watch, ”Speed is life in places like Afghanistan and Darfur in southwestern Sudan, and the ability to get supporting troops to the action, or to evacuate casualties cannot be overstated.” The shortage of helicopters can be traced in part to their “high-maintenance,” with each helicopter requiring a crew of 30 people. “A rule of thumb says that around 30 helicopters are needed to keep eight aircraft permanently deployed,” as helicopters must be grounded for maintenance checks often.
Source: International Relations and Security Network
Background: The helicopter shortage hampers war and peacekeeping efforts
In January 2008, The BBC reported that the French government had to appeal to the European community to supply more helicopters to Chad for the Darfur peacekeeping effort. The article calls helicopters “a genuine ‘force-multiplier’, allowing relatively small units, often in difficult terrain, to make the most of their capabilities.”
Source: The BBC
A March 31, 2008 article from GovernmentExecutive.com, a daily news source about government business, stated that, “most European militaries remain oriented to defending their own borders,” and “lack the strategic and tactical airlift found in the U.S. inventory to operate in distant lands.”
Source: Government Executive.com
A November 2007 article from Aviation Week magazine writes, “The helicopter shortage is the ‘single biggest operational problem’ that is hampering the day-to-day operations of ISAF, a 41,000-strong multinational mission led by NATO and comprising troops from 38 nations, including 14 that are not members of the alliance,” quoting a senior European diplomat in NATO Headquarters.
Source: Aviation Week
Opinion & Analysis: ‘Hunting for helicopters’
In a December 27, 2007 op-ed, Mark Leon Goldberg, a writer in residence for the United Nations Foundation and a senior correspondent with the American Prospect, says: “a lack of global helicopter capacity should not excuse U.N. member states—particularly those which have complained loudest about Darfur—from their duty. How and where countries decide to deploy the relatively few helicopters available is ultimately a matter of setting priorities … Darfur is still low on the totem pole.”
Source: Los Angeles Times
Related Topic: U-2 spy planes in the War on Terror
According to a Sept. 20, 2007 article from U.S. News & World Report, the U-2 spy plane may soon be obsolete, despite its effectiveness in the War on Terror. The Air Force predicts the plane will be phased out by around 2013, so the government can further develop its replacement, the Global Hawk. U-2s were, and continue to be, integral intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Iraq. The plane, known as the “Dragon Lady,” is infamous among pilots as being an extremely difficult and dangerous plane to maneuver.
Source: U.S. News & World Report
Reference: The Battle of Mogadishu
In 2002, a Slate article described the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, which took place on Oct. 3, 1993, and left 18 soldiers dead. Mickey Kaus of Slate mentions what the movie Black Hawk Down left out.
Source: Slate
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