Marquardt, APSA 2005 (Aug. 23, 2005)
Russia and Belarus beginning next year (from 31 to 42) should alleviate this demand
somewhat. On the flip side, however, as noted above Russia does not look favorably on
its having to accept its new, more demanding full quota, especially if – as is widely
expected – NATO maintains its inter-alliance flight ban.
Comparability of Open Skies imagery with other sensing assets
In some instances, Open Skies imaging compares quite favorably with those
available on remote sensing satellites. Optical imaging is 30 centimeters for Open Skies
sensors, which bests the 50 centimeters on U.S. satellites and 60 centimeters for the
images now available from commercial satellites. Open Skies thermal infrared imaging
is 50 centimeters, which is far superior to the 90 meters found on commercial satellites.
At 3 meters, Open Skies SAR imagery cannot compete with the 60 centimeters SAR
imagery on U.S. satellites and the 1-meter SAR imagery on commercial satellites. Unlike
remote sensing satellites, however, Open Skies enjoys the benefit of being able – on
fairly short notice – to take images day and night and through clouds and haze, fly below
clouds, and cover ground swaths on par with satellites equipped with sensors having 1-
meter resolution.
Open Skies planes also enjoy considerable flexibility in flight paths,
unlike satellites.
Also, Open Skies imagery costs about one-half the imagery available
47
For more on this point, see Hartwig Spitzer, “The Improvement of Satellite Capabilities and Its
Implications for the Open Skies Regime,” in Dunay, et al., Open Skies, pp. 183-95. Given that
commercial remote sensing capabilities have improved considerably during the period between
the negotiation of the treaty and its implementation a decade later, the sensing capabilities
agreed to in the treaty were, for their time, quite impressive when compared with commercial
satellites.
48
There are a few constraints on Open Skies flights. Hartwig Spitzer notes that flights depend on
the yearly allocation of active quotas and take place in sequence on a quarterly basis throughout
each calendar year. Although Open Skies and commercial satellites have comparable imaging
access times, he observes “Open Skies is vastly superior in allowing an overflight of many
separate sites exactly at nadir for optimum resolution.” Ibid., p. 190. On the issue of flexibility,
Spitzer compares Open Skies with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) and concludes that the
resolutions of the electro-optical, infrared, and SAR sensors onboard UAV’s are similar to those
on U.S. reconnaissance satellites, they are used primarily in secret for purposes related to
strategic and battlefield reconnaissance, “which are completely different from [Open Skies’]
cooperative data taking by joint teams…and thus cannot substitute for Open Skies assets.” Ibid.,
p. 192.
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Convention