No-fly zone
A no-fly zone ( English no-fly zone , short NFZ ) is an airspace where military reasons all aircraft movements by aircraft are prohibited. Exceptions can be made, for example, to enforce the flight ban and for humanitarian purposes.
Airspaces that a state restricts for flights over its own sovereign territory (e.g. because of military operations, for security reasons, on political occasions), on the other hand, are referred to as air restrictions or flight restriction areas .
Drone manufacturers also designate airspaces that are marked for manned aviation as no-fly zones for UAV (drones) and UAS (drone systems).
Basis of international law
According to Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations , the establishment of no-fly zones is one of the possible intervention measures to enforce peace . From the perspective of international law , they represent a serious interference with the sovereignty of a state and must therefore be decided by the Security Council of the United Nations .
enforcement
No-fly zones are not part of the operational spectrum of the European Union's crisis reaction forces . The NATO Response Force, on the other hand, has all the necessary capabilities, including a maritime component in the form of an aircraft carrier combat group .
During NATO operations to enforce a commercial vehicle, the airspace is monitored with the help of AWACS aircraft. If aircraft violate the no-fly zone, the monitors first try to establish radio contact. If this fails, they take military air defense measures : start interceptors , identify the aircraft, check it for terrorist or military intentions and shoot it down if ordered.
In practice, a no-fly zone is often used to prevent the movement of military ground vehicles. This is then used as driving ban zone ( english no-drive zone , in short NDZ), respectively.
Examples and problems
No- fly zones or no-fly zones that are not accompanied by the deployment of ground troops have only limited military value. In Bosnia , the no-fly zone could not prevent the Srebrenica massacre . During the Kosovo war in 1999, Serbs even used the NATO air strikes as a pretext to intensify the ethnic cleansing of the Kosovar Albanians in connection with the fight against the KLA .
During the civil war in Syria , different groups and politicians called for no-fly zones at different points in the conflict. At the beginning of 2016, when Syrian government troops and allies, with the help of the Russian air force, put terrorists and moderate fighters alike under pressure in the areas near the Turkish border, resulting in significant civilian casualties, the demands of presidential candidate Clinton and Chancellor Merkel were renewed raised. Analysts pointed out significant risks to the idea:
- Incidents involving Russian and NATO planes with the risk of world war
- Misconduct by opposition fighters or terrorists who could use the zone as a recreation area and as a base for attacks. Thus, the zone would only get a chance of approval in the UN Security Council if it is intended exclusively for civilians. But then it would be necessary to completely guard the borders of the zone on the ground by troops under a UN mandate within Syria, which prevent the corresponding movements of fighters. Should fighters nevertheless find refuge in the zone, the country that provides the troops to guard would become a party to the war, which in turn could lead to a global conflict between NATO and Russia.
- The cost and troop requirement for such a zone was estimated by US General and former Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey at 70,000 soldiers and one billion dollars per month.
Examples
The no-fly zones have become known during the Bosnian War ( Operation Deny Flight ), the zones that were declared over Iraq after the Second Gulf War in 1991 ( Operation Northern Watch for Northern Iraq and Operation Southern Watch over Southern Iraq) and because of UN Resolution 1973 -Security Council during the civil war in Libya 2011 (see International Military Operation in Libya 2011 ).
During the Darfur conflict , there were long discussions about a no-fly zone over the Sudanese province of Darfur . The US and UK considered it in late 2006 because of increasing violence and high civilian casualties. "But military experts did not consider this to be enforceable in an area the size of France in the middle of Africa."
Web links
- Gertler, Jeremiah et al .: No-Fly Zones: Strategic, Operational, and Legal Considerations for Congress (PDF; 246 kB), in: CRS Report for Congress , March 18, 2011 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ DJI - Fly Safe: No-Fly Zones. Retrieved September 24, 2017 .
- ↑ Walter Huhn u. a .: Dictionary on security policy Entry: No-fly zone , Berlin 2008, Verlag Mittler & Sohn
- ^ Libya's No-Fly, No-Drive Zone A Tall Order, But Not Unprecedented
- ↑ Norman M. Naimark: Flaming Hatred. Ethnic cleansing in the 20th century , Frankfurt 2008, p. 234
- ^ Conal Urquhart: "Syria crisis: US and Turkey consider no-fly zones" The Guardian of August 11, 2012
- ↑ Laura Pitel, Tony Paterson: "Syria civil war: Angela Merkel backs no-fly zones to protect civilians after Russia accused of bombing schools and hospitals" The Independent of February 15, 2016
- ↑ a b c Memphis Barker: "Merkel wants a no-fly zone in Syria - but has she thought it through?" The Independent dated February 17, 2016
- ↑ tagesschau.de February 28, 2011