In accordance with the Open Skies Treaty the Russian miliary will be performing recon flights over the United States over the next few days. Their
flights will coincide with the G8 summit and the beginning of the large naval exercise which deploys over half of the Navies carrier groups. They are
allowed to fly where they want and when they want so long as they follow protocol. Seems strange that they would choose this particular time to
exercise their flyover right. You can google the Open Skies Treaty for more information on this subject if you didn't already know that half the
free world is allowed to fly spyplanes over US soil with only a few days notice.
There are no restrictions as to where they are going to fly nor altitude at which they must fly. They must simply submit their flight plan within a
few hours of their departure. Usually their exact flight plan is not known until the day of the flight. The flights are scheduled to begin on
Teusday but can be pushed off by the host country for up to 24 hours if they have objections due to logistics or administration of the flight plan.
(air traffic control problem and the like) I do not have specific information on the flight plan of the Russian planes and I doubt it would be
released to the public domain.
The State Department said a Russian Tu-154, an unarmed aircraft, is to arrive at Travis Air Force Base in California. A U.S. escort team will
accompany the Russian team throughout the mission, including onboard the aircraft during the observation flight.