Members of the Russian "open-skies" inspection team arrived at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on 29 July, to begin a Ìve-day series of trial ßights over US territory as a prelude to full participation in the open-skies treaty.
Russia and Belarus have yet to sign the treaty, which involves 27 NATO nations and former Warsaw Pact countries including Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The open-skies agreement is designed to promote openness and transparency in military operations, and to enhance security by conÌdence-building measures.
"The hope is that, based on this start, the Russians will soon go ahead and sign the treaty. We also hope that Belarus will follow," says Tim Downey, of the US Government's On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA).
Col Mikhail Botvinko of the National Nuclear Risk Reduction Centre in Moscow and branch chief of the Russian open-skies team says that the exercise will "-help us to start implementing the treaty as soon as possible. The ßights themselves will contribute to efforts to beginning the treaty. In accordance with the treaty, we have the right to choose ßightpaths anywhere over the USA."
The Russian team arrived at Wright-Patterson from Khodinka, near Moscow, in one of six specially modiÌed Antonov An-30B surveillance aircraft.
It plans to use six An-30Bs for the first stage, and three Tupolev Tu-154s for the second stage, says Botvinko, who adds that the Ìrst-phase aircraft will be restricted to using optical sensors.
In theory, the Russian aircraft will be allowed to roam across all areas of the USA, including the sensitive southern sections of the Nellis test range, in Nevada. "The only restrictions will be imposed by the weather," comments Downey.
US OSIA team chief Lt Col Vic Vaccaro says: "At this stage, the American team has no idea where the Russians will be. The plan is that we will be told within a few hours and will be given 24h to react to that." All bases and locations to be viewed by the Russian aircraft will be given 24h warning.
The Ìrst reciprocal visit by one of the US Air Force's specially converted Boeing OC-135B observation aircraft will follow in mid-August. The former WC-135B weather-observation platforms have been Ìtted with several sensors, including a vertical KS-87 framing camera and two oblique KS-87 cameras for low-altitude photography, a KA-91 panoramic camera for high-altitude work, along with a heat-sensitive infra-red-linescan scanner.
The aircraft are also Ìtted with a sideways-looking synthetic-aperture radar and optical video-camera sensors, as well as updated navigation systems, including a Litton 92 inertial-navigation system and a global-positioning system.o
Source: Flight International
