Russian
Military Plane Will Fly Over the U.S. to Take Pictures—and That's Totally OK
The Open
Skies Treaty also allows US and Canadians to overfly Russia.
Apr 11, 2017
A modified
Russian military passenger jet will overfly the United States next week, taking
photographs of the ground below and monitoring U.S. government activities. It's
basically spying but it's all completely legal, thanks to the Open Skies Treaty
of 1992 that allows the Russians to overfly the United States and Canada—and
vice versa.
The Russian
aircraft will overfly
the United States on April 10 to 15, and overfly Canada (part of the
North American Air Defense Command) April 18 to 22. The aircraft will be
looking for signs the United States is violating nuclear arms agreements, such
as the New START Treaty and Intermediate
Nuclear Forces Treaty. At the same time, U.S. and Canadian specialists will overfly
Russia in their own aircraft.
The Open Skies Treaty was
signed in 1992 by then-president George H.W. Bush. Designed to boost confidence
in arms control agreements, the treaty allows participants to fly over any part
of any territory of other participants to make sure everyone is adhering to
treaties limiting the numbers and types of weapons.
Member states
are allowed to fly unarmed aircraft equipped with a variety of sensors to
identify objects on the ground. The United States, for example, flies a U.S.
Air Force OC-135B
transport, while the Russian Aerospace Forces use a similar-sized Tupolev Tu-154ON transport and a
smaller Antonov
An-30. Other countries use smaller, shorter range aircraft to get the job
done. Technicians and other specialists from the country being overflown are
allowed onboard to ensure that the surveillance equipment is being used
properly.
Open Skies
aircraft carry a variety of electro-optical sensors to do their job. Permissible surveillance
systems include "video cameras and panoramic and framing cameras
for daylight photography; infra-red line scanning systems, which can operate by
day and night; and synthetic aperture radar, which can operate day and night in
any weather". All equipment is inspected to ensure that it is allowed
under the treaty. For example, installing gear that records radio and radar
transmissions as the aircraft flies over a military base is a no-no.
The treaty
stipulates that aircraft are allowed to carry surveillance equipment to carry
out their task. Not the most sophisticated spy equipment, but enough to tell a
truck from a tank. That satisfied the requirements of most participants from
Europe, who had a conventional
arms control agreement limiting tanks and other weaponry with Russia—before
Russia pulled out of the treaty in 2015. Any data gathered by any treaty member
is accessible to any other treaty member, so long as they pay for the cost of
copying it.
In the United
States, Russian Aerospace Force aircraft participating in Open Skies must enter
the country through Dulles International Airport on the East Coast and Travis
Air Force Base on the West Coast. They may operate from Travis AFB, Dulles,
Elemendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, and Lincoln Municipal Airport in Nebraska.
They may refuel at air bases and airports in Hawaii, Wisconsin, Montana,
Arizona, and Tennessee. Likewise, American planes operating over Belarus and
Russia operate under similar restrictions.
Open Skies
flights can apparently be undertaken everywhere, at any time, but participants
generally announce the flights ahead of time as a courtesy. The only real
restriction is the number of flights a participant can undertake, a number that
varies due to the size of the country. The United States and Russia are each
granted 42 flights a year, while France gets 12 and Portugal gets two. The April
flights will be the ninth and tenth Russian Open Skies flights of 2017.
Is Open Skies
invasive? Sure, it's a little disconcerting that Russian Aerospace Forces
aircraft can fly over our most sensitive military installations—indeed, any
point over America. But at the same time, we can do the same to them. And
without these flights, all parties would be a lot more suspicious that others
have something to hide.
Original
post: popularmechanic.com
Tu-214ON
(Open Skies) Reconnaissance Aircraft: Details
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