Treaty on Open Skies The Treaty on Open Skies entered into force on January 1 , 2002 , and currently has 34 States Parties . It establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants . 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 activities of concern to them . Open Skies is one of the most wide - ranging international efforts to date promoting openness and transparency of military forces and activities . The concept of " mutual aerial observation " was initially proposed to Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin at the Geneva Conference of 1955 by President Dwight D . Eisenhower ; however , the Soviets promptly rejected the concept and it lay dormant for several years . The treaty was eventually signed as an initiative of US president ( and former Director of Central Intelligence ) George H . W . Bush in 1989 . Negotiated by the then - members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact , the agreement was signed in Helsinki , Finland , on March 24 , 1992 . This treaty is not related to civil - aviation open skies agreements . Membership . The 34 State Parties to the Open Skies Treaty are : Belarus , Belgium , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Canada , Croatia , Czech Republic , Denmark , Estonia , Finland , France , Georgia , Germany , Greece , Hungary , Iceland , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Portugal , Romania , Russian Federation , Slovak Republic , Slovenia , Spain , Sweden , Turkey , Ukraine , United Kingdom , and United States . Kyrgyzstan has signed but not yet ratified . Canada and Hungary are the depositories of the treaty in recognition of their special contribution to the Open Skies process . " Depository " countries maintain treaty documents and provide administrative support . The treaty is of unlimited duration and open to accession by other States . States of the former Soviet Union that have not already become States Parties to the treaty may accede to it at any time . Applications from other interested States are subject to a consensus decision by the Open Skies Consultative Commission ( OSCC ) , the Vienna - based organization charged with facilitating implementation of the treaty , to which all States Parties belong . The Organization for Security and Co - Operation in Europe meets monthly at its Vienna headquarters . Eight states have acceded to the treaty since entry into force : Finland , Sweden , Latvia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Slovenia , Estonia , and Lithuania . Basic elements of the treaty . Territory . The Open Skies regime covers the territory over which the State Party exercises sovereignty , including land , islands , and internal and territorial waters . The treaty specifies that the entire territory of a State Party is open to observation . Observation flights may only be restricted for reasons of flight safety ; not for reasons of national security . Aircraft . Observation aircraft may be provided by either the observing Party or ( the " taxi option " ) by the observed Party , at the latter ' s choice . All Open Skies aircraft and sensors must pass specific certification and pre - flight inspection procedures to ensure that they are compliant with treaty standards . The official certified U . S . Open Skies aircraft is the OC - 135B Open Skies . Canada uses a C - 130 Hercules aircraft equipped with a " SAMSON " sensor pod to conduct flights over other treaty nations . The pod is a converted CC - 130 fuel tank modified to carry the permitted sensors , along with associated on - board mission systems . A consortium of nations consisting of Belgium , Netherlands , Luxemburg , Canada , France , Greece , Italy , Portugal , and Spain own and operate this system . The costs of maintaining the SAMSON Pod are shared , based on each nation ' s flight quota and actual use . Bulgaria , Romania , Russia and Ukraine use the Antonov An - 30 for their flights . The Czech Republic also used to use the An - 30 for this purpose but they apparently retired all of theirs from service in 2003 . Russia also uses the Tu - 154M - ON Monitoring Aircraft . Germany formerly used this type as well until the aircraft was lost in a 1997 accident . Sweden uses a SAAB 340 aircraft ( " OS - 100 " ) that was certified in 2004 . Sensors . Open Skies aircraft may have video , optical panoramic and framing cameras for daylight photography , infra - red line scanners for a day / night capability , and synthetic aperture radar for a day / night all weather capability . Photographic image quality will permit recognition of major military equipment ( e . g . , permit a State Party to distinguish between a tank and a truck ) , thus allowing significant transparency of military forces and activities . Sensor categories may be added and capabilities improved by agreement among States Parties . All sensors used in Open Skies must be commercially available to all signatories . Imagery resolution is limited to 30 centimetres . Quotas . Each State Party is obligated to receive observation flights per its passive quota allocation . Each State Party may conduct as many observation flights - its active quota - as its passive quota . During the first three years after entry into force , each State will be obligated to accept no more than seventy - five percent of its passive quota . Since the overall annual passive quota for the United States is 42 , this means that it will be obligated to accept no more than 31 observation flights a year during this three - year period . Only two flights were requested over the United States during 2005 , by the Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus Group of States Parties ( which functions as a single entity for quota allocation purposes ) . The United States is entitled to 8 of the 31 annual flights available over Russia / Belarus . Additionally , the United States is entitled to one flight over Ukraine , which is shared with Canada . Data sharing and availability . Imagery collected from Open Skies missions is available to any State Party upon request for the cost of reproduction . As a result , the data available to each State Party is much greater than that which it can collect itself under the treaty quota system . History . At a Geneva Conference meeting with Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin in 1955 , President Eisenhower proposed that the United States and Soviet Union conduct surveillance overflights of each other ' s territory to reassure each country that the other was not preparing to attack . The fears and suspicions of the Cold War led Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev to reject Eisenhower ' s proposal . Thirty - four years later , the Open Skies concept was reintroduced by President George H . W . Bush as a means to build confidence and security between all North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ( NATO ) and Warsaw Pact countries . In February 1990 , an international Open Skies conference involving all NATO and Warsaw Pact countries opened in Ottawa , Canada . Subsequent rounds of negotiations were held in Budapest , Hungary , Vienna , Austria , and Helsinki , Finland . On March 24 , 1992 , the Open Skies Treaty was signed in Helsinki by Secretary of State James Baker and foreign ministers from 23 other countries . The treaty entered into force on January 2 , 2002 , after Russia and Belarus completed ratification procedures . In November 1992 , President Bush assigned responsibility for overall training , management , leadership , coordination and support for U . S . Open Skies observation missions to the On - Site Inspection Agency ( OSIA ) , now a part of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency ( DTRA ) . Until entry into force in January 2002 , DTRA support for the treaty involved participating in training and joint trial flights ( JTFs ) . The U . S . has conducted over 70 JTFs since 1993 . By March 2003 , DTRA had successfully certified 16 camera configurations on the OC - 135B aircraft . They also had contributed to the certification of the Bulgarian AN - 30 , Hungarian AN - 26 , POD Group ( consisting of Belgium , Canada , France , Greece , Italy , Luxembourg , Netherlands , Norway , Portugal and Spain ) C - 130H , Romanian AN - 30 , Russian AN - 30 , and Ukrainian AN - 30 . The United States successfully flew its first Open Skies mission over Russia in December 2002 . With entry into force of the treaty , formal observation flights began in August 2002 . During the first treaty year , States Parties conducted 67 observation flights . In 2004 , States Parties conducted 74 missions , and planned 110 missions for 2005 . On March 8 and 9 , 2007 , Russia conducted overflights of Canada under the Treaty . The OSCC continues to address modalities for conducting observation missions and other implementation issues . References . This article includes public domain text from the following United States Government sources :