FORMER ENEMIES NOW OVERFLYING U.S.

[Wire service report, 6/20/95]

CHANTILLY, Va. -- With almost no public notice, an aircraft of 
the former East German air force became a footnote to post-Cold 
War history here Monday.  

The plane, which was used by the late East German President Erich 
Honecker until his communst regime collapsed in 1989, took off 
from Dulles International Airport as part of a joint U.S.-German 
training exercise to get ready for implementation of the new Open 
Skies Treaty.

It marked the first time a foreign military aircraft has 
overvlown U.S. territory on a surveillance mission, said David 
Rigby, head of public affairs at the On-Site Inspection Agency, a 
Pentagon agency that aonitors treaty compliance.

The treaty was negotiated between members of NATO and the former 
Warsaw Pact and was meant to provide better understanding of the 
each side's military posture as well as added confidence that no 
country was preparing a major offensive.

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[This means foreign powers can now officially overfly Area 51 if 
they choose. --G.C.]