Tri-Service

Russian Military Aircraft Allowed To Fly Over UK

A Russian military Antonov aircraft is being given free rein to fly repeatedly over the UK.

There will however be no scrambling of RAF Typhoon jets, rather the reconnaissance plane has been welcomed with open arms, or at least with Open Skies.

Under an international agreement, which came into force in January 2002 and currently has 34 signatory nations, the flights will be conducted from RAF Brize Norton with RAF personnel on board.

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The routes are first pre-approved by the MOD and Royal Air Force and then flown as per the flight plan. UK authorities will also get to see all the photos which have been taken on the flights.

Such sorties are commonplace, reciprocal and have been going on for many years, with the UK often simultaneously conducting flights over Russia.

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Last year Pilot Officer Leo Collins, from the MoD's Arms Control and Counter Proliferation team was one of those on the flights and described in detail the experience:

"I work as part of a team which basically looks after the wide range of international conventional arms control agreements and confidence building measures that the UK is party to."

Open Skies establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the territory of its participants and is aimed at building confidence and familiarity through participation in over flights. It was under this agreement that the Russian military deployed an Antonov 30 (unarmed photography aircraft) to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and it was there that I joined the aircraft, with several of my RAF colleagues, to monitor the flight as it flew across the UK.

The flight in question was pretty routine... So why do we do it? The opportunity to observe each others’ territories is invaluable for transparency and the development of international trust between nations. In addition, aside from observing their work in the sky, we also get to interact professionally and to learn more about the culture of the nation in question; in this instance interacting with our Russian counterparts.

So, was this a dark and shady intelligence gathering exercise mounted by our enemies? No - instead it was a hugely valuable and professional experience for both nations – and long may that continue."