PHOTOS BY CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Near a observation plane parked at Hickam, Air Force Lt. Col. Chuck Cooper discusses why unarmed observation flights are still necessary.
The military says unarmed observation flights are still needed today although they were conceived by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a possible way to monitor the Soviet Union's development of nuclear weapons and long-range bombers during the Cold War. Observation planes remain key
Officials say they are needed to monitor global arms threats
By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThe flights are needed because of the threat of weapons of mass destruction and the need to build trust among nations in Europe, the military maintains.
Air Force Lt. Col. Chuck Cooper, who heads one of these unarmed observation flights, says the mission required under the Open Skies Treaty, signed in 1992, "is probably even more relevant today as our nation goes through changes in Europe.
"The more we can work together, the better off we will be in the future when it comes to weapons of mass destruction ... It's all about building trust."
Cooper and his crew of 30, made up of members of all the services, were in the islands briefly last week as part of a training mission. His OC-135B, a military version of the Boeing 707 jetliner, is equipped with four cameras used for low- and high-altitude photography that can pinpoint major pieces of military equipment on the ground. It is one of two assigned for special Air Force operations.
Army Staff Sgt. William Alexander, the lead noncommissioned officer on the team, said the low-altitude cameras are so sharp that from a distance of 6,000 to 10,000 feet "you are able to tell the difference between a car and truck and makes and models of vehicles."
Vern Medenblik shows off cameras used in a military observation plane to photograph objects on the ground. One, in foreground, is used for panoramic shots, and the other by his hand is for still photos. The cameras are located in the back area of the plane.
The Open Skies Treaty was first proposed by Eisenhower in 1955 at a summit held in Switzerland during the Cold War as the United States tried to gain as much information as possible about the Soviet Union's weapons system. Eisenhower reasoned that allowing Soviets to fly over U.S. military bases in exchange for allowing U.S. flights would ease tension between the two superpowers.
But the Soviets rejected the Open Skies Treaty, and U.S. spy flights over the Soviet Union continued. On May 1, 1960, CIA U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory near Sverdlosk. Two months later, a Russian MiG fighter downed an Air Force RB-17 in international airspace north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of four crewmen and the capture of two others.
With the launching of the first reconnaissance satellites later the same year, the need for manned observation flights was set aside for nearly three decades until President George Bush revived the idea in 1989. This was to give countries without satellites the ability to gain information about military developments in other countries using unarmed planes equipped with cameras and sensors.
The treaty was signed on March 24, 1992, and its implementation began several years later after it was ratified by Russia and Belarus. The treaty is of unlimited duration, but provisions were made for signatory countries to review the treaty after the first three years and every five years thereafter.
Cooper said the treaty promotes openness and transparency by allowing countries that signed the agreement unarmed observation flights. Besides Belarus, Russia and the United States, the other signatories include Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is responsible for the management and coordination of the treaty's missions which could allow up to 42 flight missions a year when the treaty is fully implemented.
The treaty permits short notice, unrestricted aerial observation flights over the territory of each signatory. Flights are not allowed to be longer than 96 hours once the mission begins with the arrival of the observation planes. Treaty members are allowed to accompany the flights and monitor the surveillance operations, and are even allowed to take the photos back to their countries.
Alexander, who has been in the Army for nine years, said each mission is "very specific."
"Before we fly, we agree upon where we are going to be flying," said Alexander, who is fluent in Russian and has spent three years in the program taking part in observation flights.
"This is not for intelligence gathering," he added, "but it's for confidence building. We are not massing troops. We are just making things more safer and secure."
The aircraft and its crew are assigned to the Air Combat Command of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska while the mission teams of interpreters and analysis, who are all qualified for flight status, report out of Fort Belvoir near Washington, D.C.
