Some United States Congress and Pentagon representatives have expressed concern over Russia’s plans to upgrade the surveillance equipment Moscow relies upon for its observation flights over the US Officials want Washington to deny Russia the right to observe strategic infrastructure facilities in the US from the air.

“I cannot see why the United States would allow Russia to fly a surveillance plane with an advanced sensor over the United States to collect intelligence,” The New York Times cited Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mac Thornberry as saying.

The US, Canada, and most European and former Soviet countries, including Russia, have conducted surveillance flights over each other’s countries for years. Essentially an intelligence gathering practice, the spy flights were authorized by the 34 signatories to the Treaty on Open Skies to enhance transparency in the military domain.

Russia recently requested a switch from wet-film cameras to digital sensors for its surveillance flights over the US Although the countries have conducted these flights continuously since 2002, Russia’s steps to improve the technological capabilities of its planes have caused a stir among US officials.

“The treaty has become a critical component of Russia’s intelligence collection capability directed at the United States,” Admiral Cecil D. Haney, commander of the United States Strategic Command, wrote in a letter to the head of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces, Mike Rogers, reported The New York Times.