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Russian surveillance flight over Norway

Russian An-30B aricraft used in Open Skies inspection flights.

A Russian military aircraft will be conducting an inspection flight over Norway later this month as part of the Open Skies Treaty.

Location

The inspection flight will take place in the period July 28 to August 2nd and will be conducted from a Russian An-30B aircraft. The plane will take off from Bardufoss in Northern Norway. The inspection flight has a maximum range of 1700 kilometers.

The aircraft has no armament, only approved surveillance equipment such as cameras and sensors, and Norwegian representatives will be on board to control that the equipment is being used according to the treaty, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.

This is Russia’s 22nd flight over the territory of one of the treaty member states so far this year.

The Open Skies Treaty, signed in 1992, established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 member states to promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities.

Briefly summarized the treaty gives the parties full right to overfly each other’s territories without other limitations than those that are directly related to flight safety. The treaty specifies that the entire territory of a State Party is open to observation. Imagery collected from Open Skies missions is available to any State Party upon request.