On 4 July 2014 the Tu-214ON (reg. number RF-64525) built by the Kazan Aircraft Plant (now an affiliate of Tupolev JSC) under a contract with Vega JSC (primary contractor for the development of the Open Skies airborne surveillance system) flew from Kazan to its base, Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow Region, following its acceptance by RusAF.

Since last autumn, the Tu-214ON (RF-64519) has been at Chkalovsky too. It conducted its first light in Kazan on 1 June 2011, passed its certification by the IAC Aircraft Registry and was delivered to the customer, the Russian Defence Ministry, on 22 August 2013. The second Tu-214ON was initially slated for delivery as far back as 2011, but the Kazan Aircraft Plant had managed to complete it only by late last year, with the first flight performed on 18 December 2013. In January this year, the aircraft was painted and delivered in early July following the completion of the debugging and acceptance test programme.

Both Tu-214ONs are designed for surveillance flights under the 1992 Open Skies international treaty providing for international cooperation in the monitoring of arms control agreements. The signatories to the treaty include 34 states. The Tu-214ON's characteristics as well as the performance of its special equipment is far superior to those of the Tu-154M-LK1 (RA-85655) and An-30B aircraft Russia has used under the Open Skies programme until recently.

(Photo: Vladislav Dmitrenko)