KYIV. Jan 4 (Interfax-AVN) - The military cooperation and verification center under the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has started accomplishing missions of the first stage of the Open Skies Treaty, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
An AN-30B Clank surveillance plane of the Blokytna Styzha (Blue Path) squadron organic to the Ukrainian Air Force will undergo certification in the German town of Nordholz on April 15 to 17 this year, the spokesman said.
The certification procedure will involve verifiers from the 27 nations signatories to the treaty. Having checked the plane's surveillance equipment the officials will decide whether the plane will be allowed to survey military installations from the air. The certification will also involve the Hungarian AN-26 Curl and Russian AN-30B planes. All planes of the nations signatories to the treaty are to have been certified by late September this year.
In accordance with a decision of the Open Skies Consultative Committee, Ukraine is to accept nine inspections and dispatch seven inspections to other countries. The country will accept 12 foreign inspections and dispatch an equal number of inspection parties to other nations starting from 2003.