International-flight recommendations accelerate CSTO crisis response

​Recommendations on Improving the National Legislation of the CSTO Member States in the Area of International Flights of Aircraft of the Armed Forces, Other Troops and Military Formations of the CSTO Member States were adopted at the plenary session of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly on November 30, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and can serve as a good example of effective cooperation between Member States’ parliaments in this challenging period.
The model legislative act that we are considering today is intended to enable the approximation of the CSTO Member States’ legislation in the area of military air transport.
In addition, it will facilitate the creation of a unified conceptual framework, the harmonization of legal norms and rules for the organization of international flights of the aircraft of the armed forces, other troops and military formations and increase the effectiveness of the legal regulation of international flights by Troops (Collective Forces) of the CSTO States.
The Recommendations were preceded by a detailed analysis of international legislation in the area of military air transport.
The fact is that the practice of conducting large-scale exercises of the CSTO CRDF involving the airlift of large military formations has revealed problematic issues that slow down the use of aviation when carrying out cross-border flights between the CSTO States.
In particular, organization of the airlift of military formations in the course and during the preparation of exercises has encountered the following:
first, lengthy administrative procedures for obtaining permission to conduct international flights;
second, lack of a mechanism and channels for the prompt exchange of information required by aircraft crews for flight operations;
third, impossibility of choosing the most optimal routes for flights due to the need for aircraft to cross state borders through the air corridors.
Added to this are the standard normative requirements contained in the legislation of most of the CSTO States for landing of all transit aircraft carrying ammunition, weapons, military and special equipment on board for border, customs and other types of control.
At the same time, the adopted Recommendations allow increasing the effectiveness of legal regulation of international flights of the armed forces and will also have a positive effect on the operational effectiveness of the Member States’ aviation, both during joint exercises of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) and in the event of using them as intended.
​