Treaty Name: Treaty on Open Skies

Advice & Consent of U.S. Senate: 6 August 1993
U.S. Ratification: 2 November 1993
Entry into Force (EIF): 1 January 2002
Structure: 19 Articles, 12 Annexes

Background: The Eisenhower Administration originally proposed Open Skies in 1955, to reduce fears of a surprise attack and attempt to control nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union, however, rejected this proposal. In 1989 the Treaty was reformulated by President George H.W. Bush and negotiations began in Ottawa in February 1990 between NATO and the Warsaw Pact states. Other members of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) were present as observers at these negotiations. Talks continued until April 1990, but no conclusive agreement was reached. Negotiations resumed in Vienna in 1991, and the Treaty was signed on March 24, 1992 in Helsinki in conjunction with the opening of the CSCE Review Conference.

Treaty Objectives: In an effort to increase transparency and build confidence, the Treaty establishes a regime of unarmed observation flights over the territories of the States Parties: Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovinia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It also aims to help monitor compliance with other arms control treaties and agreements and assist crisis prevention and crisis management activities.

Treaty Provisions: The Treaty allows for observation flights over the entire territory of the States Parties. Restrictions can only be imposed if they regard the safety of the flight, and not for national security issues. In addition, OS flights have priority over all other flights, except for emergency and presidential flights.

The Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) is the Treaty's international implementing body. The OSCC meets three times a year in Vienna, Austria, to discuss technical, procedural, and cost issues that affect implementation of the Treaty. Requests for observation flights must be submitted for each year to the OSCC and all other States Parties. The OSCC approves the distribution of flight quotas. There are two types of flight quotas: active and passive. A state's active quota is how many observation flights it is allowed to make; it's passive quota is how many observation flights it must accept. The Treaty is open to accession by other Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) states upon EIF. Six months after EIF all states may apply to be a part of the Treaty, with approval based on the consensus of existing members.

States Parties are allowed to conduct observation flights on 72 hours notice using designated fixed-wing, unarmed aircraft. Observation aircraft may be equipped with the following types of sensors, with the resolution indicated: optical panoramic and framing cameras (30 cm), video camera (30 cm), infra-red line scanning devices (50 cm), side-ways-looking synthetic aperture radars (3 m).

The Treaty allows each State Party to use its own aircraft for observation flights. The U.S. Open Skies aircraft is currently the OC-135B, a modified WC-135 STRATOLIFTER. The first OC-135B was rolled out at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on June 30, 1993. Two additional WC-135s were modified for Open Skies observation flights and outfitted with panoramic and framing cameras. Observed States also have the right to exercise the "taxi" option, whereby they require the observing party to use their aircraft. Any imagery collected during Open Skies missions is available to any State Party, provided they pay for the cost of reproduction. Because of this, the information available is greater than what can be collected by any individual State.

Current Issues: With EIF on January 1, 2002, the Treaty is currently undergoing a three-year phased implementation period. During this period, limitations are placed on the types of sensors the States Parties may use for observation flights. In addition, passive quotas are reduced by 25 percent. Once the phasing-in period ends, full passive quotas will apply and all sensor types allowed by the Treaty can be used during observation flights.

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