1 June 2011 saw the maiden flight of a new Tupolev Tu-214-ON special-purpose aircraft at the Kazan Aircraft Production Association’s (KAPO) airfield, with the aircraft manufactured in support of the Open Skies programme. The crew under command of Tupolev’s test pilot Nikolay Kapelkin flew the aircraft (RA-64519) on its first mission that lasted 1 h 22 min. The plane was developed by Tupolev team led by Chief Designer Igor Kabatov and made by KAPO on order of the prime contractor under the Open Skies programme, the Vega radio-electronics corporation. Once the tests have been complete, the aircraft will be delivered to the Russian Defence Ministry.

The Treaty on Open Skies, which is aimed at strengthening trusts among its signatories by means of mechanism of monitoring military activities and compliance with the existing arms control treaties through flying over the territories of the signatories, was signed by OSCE member states in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Russian Federation ratified it on 26 May 2001. To date, as many as 34 states have signed the treaty.

Russia has used two types of aircraft for inspection missions – Tupolev Tu-154M-LK1 to fly over North America and Antonov An-30B for missions over Europe. According to the Vega corporation, the special equipment carried by the aircraft includes various photographic cameras. To perform more effective monitoring under the Treaty on Open Skies, Tupolev was tasked with developing a special version of the Tu-214 airliner, fitted with an airborne surveillance system from Vega. According to official statements by the developer of the system, the Tu-214-ON is “the first plane among the planes of the 34 signatories to the treaty, equipped with all means of observation allowed by the treaty – four photographic and three TV cameras, synthetic aperture radar and a linear-scanning infrared sensor”.

The first Tu-214-ON is to undergo the development trials and monitoring equipment tests, after which it will kick off its official test programme. The aircraft will have to pass international certification prior to starting its monitoring flights. A Vega news release reads that the plane’s delivery is slated for late 2011 and that another Tu-214-ON is being built by KAPO in support of the government’s commitments under the Treaty on Open Skies.