No-Fly Zone: What, How and Why, Explained Simply and Briefly

¡®No-Fly Zone¡¯ is the new phrase in the news because Ukraine wants NATO to enforce it and NATO is not keen to.

A ¡®No-Fly Zone¡¯ or NFZ is a designated area where certain states are not allowed to fly.

As explained in another article about Air Power, ¡®he who controls the air, controls everything else on the surface.¡¯

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So, before a military campaign can hope for any success, control of the air is a must.

But such a control is never automatic; the air force of one side must fight for, and achieve it, before their surface forces¡ªthe army and the navy¡ªcan advance without interference from the opposing air force.

This ¡®control of the air¡¯ is called ¡®air superiority¡¯, and is achievable these days only for a short period over a limited area.

Failing to achieve it can result in disastrous consequences, as Pakistan discovered in 1971, during the Battle of Longewala.

The details we¡¯re getting about the Russia-Ukraine War are sketchy and one sided. And they¡¯re full of propaganda. While we¡¯re sure the Russian side too is engaging in manipulation of the news to suit their narrative, we in India don¡¯t get to see or hear that. All we get is the Western point of view, which includes the now discredited legend of the ¡®Ghost of Kyiv.¡¯

Reuters

People in the know doubted the ghost story the moment they heard it, because the first task of any attacking force would be to neutralise or ¡®ground¡¯ the opposing air force. And that, the Russians seem to have effectively done, else they won¡¯t dare expose long columns of slow-moving troops to aerial attacks.

Since ¡®he who controls the air, controls everything else on the surface,¡¯ the Russians now have a free hand on the ground, without worrying about any interference from the air.

However, reports suggest that the Ukrainians have shot down some Russian planes and helicopters, using surface-to-air missiles, so it¡¯s certainly not a cakewalk for the advancing Russian forces.

AP

The Ukrainian Air Force is tiny as compared to the Russian Air Force, and they probably got grounded quickly, which is why the demand for an NFZ.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO, (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) a defensive alliance formed after World War II to counter the Soviet Bloc.

But, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a lot of states became independent and joined NATO. Ukraine too wants to join, and Russia is against it.

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In the 1971 Indo-Pak war, we flew in our territory and the PAF flew in theirs with no hinderance. But when our planes went across the border or when the PAF flew over India, they were liable to be shot down, as indeed many were. So, in a way, we were enforcing an NFZ for others over our airspace.

NATO had earlier enforced NFZs in Iraq, Bosnia and Libya. But there, NATO was essentially asking the local air forces to stay on the ground or risk being shot down.

AP

But what NATO did in Iraq, Bosnia and Libya was to enforce NFZ for the Iraqis, Bosnians and Libyans over their own airspace.

NATO can¡¯t enforce NFZ over Ukraine.

Why?

Ukraine is not a member of NATO, so there¡¯s no legal authority for NATO to protect its airspace.

In demanding an NFZ, basically Ukraine wants NATO to defend it from the air, which amounts to NATO¡¯s direct involvement in the conflict, whether on the ground or in the air, which is against the NATO charter.

And Russia is no Iraq, for it has the technology and the numbers to counter the NATO air forces.

To enforce an NFZ, NATO member states will have to use their air forces over Ukraine. For that, they would need UN approval, and Russia will certainly use its Veto power in the UN Security Council to deny them that.

And, despite that, if the pilot of any other country shoots down a Russian plane over Ukraine, it could invite Russian aerial retaliation over its own land through long-range missiles. Who knows what that might lead to?

A young friend asked me why Ukraine can¡¯t get the best fighter planes like Rafale from the European states.

Switching from one plane to another is not as easy as driving one car today and another tomorrow. Also, it takes a lot of time and training to fly and effectively use any modern aircraft in combat. And time is what Ukraine does not seem to have.

What is the alternative?

NATO¡¯s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, which are simply airborne radars with longer range than ground-based radars, are already active in the area. They fly beyond Ukrainian border, but can still monitor Russian air activity and inform Ukraine of incoming threats.

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NATO might supply lightweight man portable surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine, as they did in Afghanistan, and maybe follow it up with bigger missiles too, since the western borders of Ukraine are still open. These missiles are relatively easier to train for and can be inducted faster.

But will that win the war for Ukraine? Unlikely, because shooting down a few more planes alone cannot win wars.

Will it make Russian attacks fiercer? Quite likely.

My heart goes out to the determined population of Ukraine, but peace seems out of sight, as of now. One can only hope for successful negotiations quickly, because the longer this war drags on, more would be the deaths and destruction.

Maybe adopting a neutral stand like the Swiss, and being the buffer between Russia and Western Europe, could be a solution.

Do we have NFZs in India too?

Yes. International civilian flights are allowed to overfly India only with mutual agreements. And military aircraft require special permission. There have been many occasions when India and Pakistan have temporarily denied the use of airspace to each other.

NATO

Also, within India, we have NFZs, and such areas are called Prohibited Areas. These are strategically or historically important places where we do not want the risk of anything falling from the sky.

These are Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, some oil refineries, nuclear power stations, the Taj Mahal, and a few others.

Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament House are very close to Delhi Airport, and we carefully avoid flying over them. The only aircraft who may flout this rule are the IAF planes during the Republic Day Fly-Past.

But at that time, neither the President nor the Ministers are inside the buildings, as they¡¯re sitting beside the Raj Path, watching the parade!

Guess what was one of the earliest prohibited areas in India?

It was the Tower of Silence on Malabar Hill in Mumbai, the Parsi funeral grounds.

And who was the first Indian to fly commercially in India? JRD Tata, a Parsi.

He began by flying the airmail route from Karachi to Mumbai and was practically the only one flying around Mumbai those days.

So as the saying goes, ¡®He who pays the piper plays the tune.¡¯ Which in this case becomes, ¡®He who makes the noise, protects silence!¡¯

The writer is a former fighter pilot of the IAF and now a commercial airline pilot. He is the author of two books and many blog posts, available at www.avinashchikte.com