ABSTRACT
The United Nations has never had an air power strategy or an air power campaign plan. UN air power has always been on loan from donor member nations, often as an afterthought, and generally only in relation to land forces. It has rarely been used outside of normal support functions for the UN force (generally for transport), and only recently has it been used for modern intelligence-collection purposes, including imagery and mapping of unmapped territories such as the eastern Congo. It has yet to be used creatively as a primary UN function with a decisive impact, with at least two exceptions. 1 One has the impression that UN staff, despite their leavening of experts from the air staffs, of UN member states, do not really have an appreciation for all that air power might do before, during, and after UN forces are on the ground. This is a critical knowledge gap at the leadership level.
