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In reply to the discussion: Dismantling the ONLY airplanes capable of monitoring Russia from the air [View all]crickets
(25,952 posts)18. Boeing OC-135B
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_OC-135B_Open_Skies
Keep American Skies Open to Russia: The Trump administration is poised to kill another useful treaty that contributes to trans-Atlantic peace (interesting op-ed about how the treaty came about and why we should keep it)
https://newrepublic.com/article/155583/keep-american-open-skies-trump-russia
The Importance of the Open Skies Treaty - Nov 2019
https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110262/witnesses/HHRG-116-FA14-Wstate-WoolfA-20191119.pdf
Foreign Affairs hearing re the allowed planes/equipment; includes the usual Congressional bellyaching about costs.
The OC-135B Open Skies United States Air Force observation aircraft supports the Treaty on Open Skies.[1] The aircraft, a modified WC-135B, flies unarmed observation flights over participating parties of the treaty. Three OC-135B aircraft were modified by the Aeronautical Systems Center's 4950th Test Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The first operationally-capable OC-135B was assigned to the 24th Reconnaissance Squadron at Offutt AFB in October 1993. It is now fitted with a basic set of navigational and sensor equipment, and was placed in inviolate storage at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Arizona in 1997. Two fully operational OC-135B aircraft were delivered in 1996 with the full complement of treaty-allowed sensors, which includes an infrared line scanner, synthetic aperture radar and video scanning sensors.
Keep American Skies Open to Russia: The Trump administration is poised to kill another useful treaty that contributes to trans-Atlantic peace (interesting op-ed about how the treaty came about and why we should keep it)
https://newrepublic.com/article/155583/keep-american-open-skies-trump-russia
But the biggest value of the Open Skies Treaty to the U.S., and the world, is its boost to confidence-building and transparency. By rule, American personnel sit in on Russian Open Skies flights, and vice versa. Treaty opponents say the widespread availability of high-resolution satellite imagery moots the accord, but most Open Skies members dont have their own constellation of bespoke satellites, like the one Trump outed a few weeks ago by tweeting a highly classified Iran surveillance photo it had taken. Even if the U.S. could rely fully on its advanced space-based imagery sensors, the other 32 non-Russia Open Skies members gain tremendously from the treatys sharing process.
The Open Skies Treaty is not without its warts or disputes. The Obama administration locked horns with Moscow over Russias compliance and bad-faith challenges to U.S. operations under the accord. But those disputes were largely resolved in open multilateral discussions, and the lingering challenges arent fixed by steamrolling an unprecedented military-transparency regime, Bolton-style. The fact is that the Open Skies concept, and its application in recent years, vindicates the continued relevance of arms control for our national security, as one State Department official put it in 2014.
The Open Skies Treaty is not without its warts or disputes. The Obama administration locked horns with Moscow over Russias compliance and bad-faith challenges to U.S. operations under the accord. But those disputes were largely resolved in open multilateral discussions, and the lingering challenges arent fixed by steamrolling an unprecedented military-transparency regime, Bolton-style. The fact is that the Open Skies concept, and its application in recent years, vindicates the continued relevance of arms control for our national security, as one State Department official put it in 2014.
The Importance of the Open Skies Treaty - Nov 2019
https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110262/witnesses/HHRG-116-FA14-Wstate-WoolfA-20191119.pdf
Foreign Affairs hearing re the allowed planes/equipment; includes the usual Congressional bellyaching about costs.
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Dismantling the ONLY airplanes capable of monitoring Russia from the air [View all]
The3rdTimeIsCharmed
Dec 2020
OP
What's special about Russia that only certain type(s) of aircraft can be used for this purpose?
mr_lebowski
Dec 2020
#1
Didn't Trump also get rid of the agreement ... thought I saw ... no reciprocal fly-overs?
mr_lebowski
Dec 2020
#15
boeing planes made in the 60s or 70s..there was something about them a few months back...
samnsara
Dec 2020
#4
I still think a dacha on the Crimean coast is still a Trump "retirement" option...
Wounded Bear
Dec 2020
#11
If the treaty is torn up, a new plane would not be authorized. BUT relying on satellites is risky!
The3rdTimeIsCharmed
Dec 2020
#21
Well if it comes to shooting down sats, the planes would not be flying either.
EX500rider
Dec 2020
#26
Thank you, The3rdTimeIsCharmed. First I've ever heard of this. Very helpful. ⭐️
Judi Lynn
Dec 2020
#24