The operation began in response to United Nations Security Council Resolution 781, which established a ban on the use of military aircraft in Bosnian airspace, and requested the aid of member states in monitoring compliance.

Beginning on October 16, 1992, NATO monitored violations of the no-fly zone using E-3 Sentry NAEW aircraft based in Germany, Italy, Greece, and the United Kingdom.

[1] In response to this high volume of unauthorized flights, the Security Council passed Resolution 816, which authorized NATO to enforce the no-fly zone, and engage violators.

On September 25, 1991, at the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution 713, which established "a general and complete embargo on all deliveries of weapons and military equipment to Yugoslavia", with the goal of reducing violence and bloodshed throughout the country.

[8] Even more significantly, Hungary agreed that if a NATO aircraft were attacked in its airspace, the Hungarian Air Force would provide support with Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighters.

[11] Eleven NATO countries provided personnel or aircraft for the operation: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Turkey, and the United States.

[16] This escalation of NATO involvement also gained the crucial backing of US President-elect Bill Clinton in December, when he told the press that he had "been in favor of enforcing the no-fly zone for some time.

"[17] The UN called for NATO to use force in response to the "blatant violations of the ban on military flights in the airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina" with Security Council Resolution 816 on March 31, 1993.

Thus, it set the precedent for future NATO-UN cooperation, based on a model where NATO forces would use their superior technical expertise to assist the UN in pursuing its broader mission.