Open Skies Treaty What Is It
It establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants.
Open skies treaty what is it. The treaty is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants regardless of size a direct role in gathering information about military forces and. The open skies treaty is a key piece of the post cold war international security order. The pact enables member nations to fly their aircraft over each other s territory getting a clear picture of military activity. Kremlin ru the open skies treaty which the united states plans to quit was agreed just.
There has been pressure mounting from all sides for the united states to salvage the arms control treaty. When the trump administration declared it would walk away from the open skies treaty in six months time it left the door open for renegotiation. Treaty of open skies is an agreement that seeks to foster trust by allowing unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of the participating countries. First proposed in 1955 by former us president dwight eisenhower as a means to deescalate tensions during the cold war the landmark treaty was eventually signed in 1992 between nato members and former warsaw pact countries following the demise of the soviet union.
The open skies treaty allows countries to carry out unarmed surveillance flights over each other s territory. Specifically they ve blamed moscow for preventing surveillance flights from happening over russia. However the us has accused russia of abusing it and is threatening to withdraw from open skies next month. The trump administration is expected to pull out of the open skies treaty which allows unarmed surveillance flights over american russian and several other countries territories in a.
What is the open skies treaty.