--- title: "The Russians Just Did A Fly-By Of Area 51" description: "Russia's specially equipped Tu-154M Open Skies aircraft is doing a grand tour of America's most sensitive military installations out west." date: "2019-03-29" modified: "2019-12-01" authors: - name: "Tyler Rogoway" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/tyler-rogoway.md" url: "https://www.twz.com/27206/the-russians-just-did-a-fly-by-of-area-51" categories: - "Air" - "Airborne Sensors" - "Americas" - "Area 51" - "Around The Globe" - "Espionage" - "Europe" - "News & Features" - "Russia" - "U.S. Homeland" - "Wide Area Aerial Surveillance" tags: - "AREA 51" - "Must Read Features" - "Nevada Test and Training Range" - "Nevada Test Site" - "Open Skies" - "russia" - "Tu-154M" --- # The Russians Just Did A Fly-By Of Area 51 ![]() *www.twz.com* The Russians are operating [their Tu-154M aircraft]() configured for surveillance flights sanctioned under the [Open Skies Treaty]() that allows member countries to conduct surveillance flights over each other's territory relatively unimpeded. The aircraft are equipped with imaging equipment with specific limitations and monitors from the country being surveilled are onboard the flights to make certain the party complies with the parameters of the treaty. This latest series of Russian Open Skies flights are being [conducted out of Great Falls](), Montana and are covering a slew of strategic points in the western part of the United States, including the highly secure [Nellis Test and Training Range]() (NTTR) in southern Nevada, home of [Area 51](). The mid-day flight on March 28th, 2019 appears to have originated out of Travis AFB, located near San Francisco, and continued on something of a highlights tour of American military installations in California and Nevada. It flew south over central California, passing near bases like Naval Air Station Lemoore and headed out over the Channel Islands. It then headed directly over Edwards AFB before meandering around Fort Irwin and on to [Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake]() before hooking a right and heading toward Creech AFB in Nevada. It then headed north, directly into the NTTR—[the most secure airspace]() in the United States [along with Washington, D.C.]() ![message-editor%2F1553834096189-1d.jpeg]() *This is the medium altitude imaging portion of the flight that the Tu-154M flew. , *Flightradar24** ![message-editor%2F1553834103698-1v.jpeg]() *It flew directly over Edwards AFB., *Flightradar24** ![message-editor%2F1553834310838-12567.jpeg]() *Then to Fort Irwin and the National Training Center. , *Flightradar24** ![message-editor%2F1553834197053-11c.jpeg]() *It then headed up over Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. , *Flightradar24** ![message-editor%2F1553834249988-12c.jpeg]() *It then turned east and flew directly over Creech AFB, the heart of America's unmanned aircraft operations. , *Flightradar24** After it flew over Creech AFB, it headed up to Yucca Flat, where one of America's [nuclear weapons assembly plants]() is located, and a [secretive airstrip that specializes]() in test flights of unmanned aircraft, as well as other sensitive Department Of Energy installations. It then headed over the [pockmarked Nevada Test Site](). Area 51 [sits just to the east]() of this location. The aircraft's panoramic cameras can collect fairly wide swathes of imagery along the Open Skies aircraft's flight path. The voyage continued north, with [Tonopah Test Range]() to the east, before heading northeast towards Salt Lake. It passed somewhat near Dugway Proving Grounds on its way back to Great Falls, but it's not clear if the aircraft was collecting imagery at that time. If it was, it was doing so at double the altitude as before. The Tu-154 flew at an altitude of around 14,000 to 15,000 feet for the part of its trip over Nevada and California, before climbing out to above 30,000 feet after exiting the NTTR and heading back to its temporary base of operations in Great Falls. ![message-editor%2F1553834900642-11cc.jpeg]() **Flightradar24** ![message-editor%2F1553834915875-11ccc.jpeg]() **Flightradar24** ![message-editor%2F1553835022593-ssacaca.jpeg]() **Flightradar24** A flight before this one saw the Tu-154 check out Salt Lake and Hill AFB, Las Vegas and Nellis AFB, pretty much all of San Diego, and up the Southern California coast, which has plenty of military bases and weapons storage areas. It then flew directly to Plant 42 in Palmdale before climbing up and heading to Travis AFB to land and refuel. These are Russia's first Open Skies missions over the U.S. for the year. The U.S. has already flown a number of Open Skies [sorties over Russia in February](). ![message-editor%2F1553836603674-1280px-rf-85655\_t154m-lk-1\_russian\_air\_force\_open\_skies\_uumb\_32786110514.jpg]() *Russia Tu-154M configured and certified for Open Skies flights. , *Papas Dos/wikicommons** Open Skies almost became a thing of the past when the U.S. accused the Russians of abusing the agreement and [not offering equal treatment]() as defined by its terms. The [U.S. also claimed]() that the equipment on Russian's newest Tu-214ON Open Skies plane didn't meet the limiting requirements of the treaty. Many think that the Russians get far more out of Open Skies than the U.S. as their satellite imaging and general reconnaissance capabilities are more limited than those of the U.S. military. You can more about [this situation here](). Just as it looked like Open Skies was crumbling, there was a sudden about-face and the flights resumed, with an especially high profile U.S. sortie [over Ukraine occurring in January](). ![message-editor%2F1553839379588-12ccc.jpeg]() **OSCE.ORG** ![message-editor%2F1553839393488-daccc.jpeg]() **OSCE.ORG** The Russians definitely have a ton of new intelligence data to pore over after yesterday's missions. We'll keep an eye on the Tu-154M's movements out of Great Falls to see if it flies any more missions over some of America's most sensitive military installations in the days to come. *Special thanks to observer and tracker Jeff LeBarron who spotted the Russian Tu-154 in flight near Area 51 in March 2019 using the Flightradar24 app.* *Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com* *Author's note: The Tu-154M used for Open Skies missions is only equipped with optical sensors. The mention about radar was removed/corrected for accuracy purposes.* ## Author Tyler’s passion is the study of military technology, strategy, as well as foreign policy, and he has fostered a dominant voice on those topics in the defense and national security space. Tyler was the creator of the hugely popular defense site *Foxtrot Alpha* before developing *TWZ*, which he continues to lead as the Editor-In-Chief to this day. ### Author social links [Twitter]()