E6 Navy Plane - Key point: The E-6 platform should remain operational through 2040 thanks to a life extension program and ongoing upgrades to the systems and radios.
In an army that operates Raptor stealth aircraft, A-10 tankbusters, B-52 bombers and Harrier jump jets, the US Navy's silent E-6 Mercury, based on the 707 aircraft, seems particularly innocent. But don't be fooled by appearances. Although the Mercury has no weapons of its own, in some sense it is arguably the deadliest aircraft operated by the Pentagon, as its job is to command the launch of land-based and sea-based nuclear ballistic missiles.
E6 Navy Plane
Of course, the US military has a strategic Global Operations Center on the ground in Nebraska and transmitters on land to communicate with the nuclear triad. The sinister purpose of the E-6, however, is to maintain the communications link between the national command authority (beginning with the president and the secretary of defense) and US nuclear forces, even if ground command centers are destroyed by an enemy force. first attack. In other words, you can chop off the head of the US nuclear forces, but the body keeps coming at you, thanks to these doomsday plans.
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The basic mission of the E-6 is known as Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO). Prior to the development of the E-6, the TACAMO mission was performed by a land-based transmitter and later EC-130G and Q Hercules aircraft, which had very low-frequency radios for communications with Navy submarines. Interestingly, until 2001 France also operated its own TACAMO aircraft, four modified Transall C-160H
Long line of military variants of the venerable Boeing 707 aircraft, notably the 707-320B Advanced, which is also used in the E-3 Sentry. Equipped with thirty-one communications antennas, the E-6A was originally tasked solely with communicating with submerged Navy submarines. Retrofitted with more fuel-efficient CFM-56 turbojets and taking advantage of enlarged fuel tanks, the E-6A could stay in the air for up to fifteen hours, or seventy-two with onboard refueling.
To use its very low-frequency radios, an E-6 must fly in a continuous high-altitude orbit, with its fuselage and tail-mounted VLF radios tracking one- and five-mile wire antennas in a near-vertical direction. attitude! The VLF signals can be received by Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines hiding deep underwater thousands of kilometers away. However, the limited bandwidth of VLF transmitters means that they can only transmit raw data at a rate of approximately thirty-five alphanumeric characters per second.
Slower than even the old 14k internet modems from the 1990s. Still, it is enough to send Emergency Action Messages, which instruct the ballistic missile submarines to launch one of several menus of pre-planned nuclear strikes, ranging from limited to large-scale nuclear strikes. The E-6's systems are also hardened to survive the electromagnetic pulse from nuclear weapons detonated below.
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Between 1997 and 2006, the Pentagon upgraded its entire E-6A fleet to dual-role E-6Bs, expanding the Mercury's capabilities by allowing it to serve as an airborne nuclear command post with its own combat staff for the job. In this role, it serves as backup for four massive E-4 command post aircraft based on the 747 jumbo jet. The E-6B has ultra-high frequency radios in its Airborne Launch Control system that allows it to remotely launch land-based ballistic missiles from its underground silos, a task previously assigned to the US Air Force EC-135 Looking Glass. - another 707 variant. The E-6's crew was increased from fourteen to twenty-two for the command post mission, usually with an admiral or general on board. Additional UHF radios give the E-6B access to the viable MILSTAR satellite communications network, while the cockpit has been upgraded with new avionics and instrumentation from the 737NG aircraft. The E-6B can be distinguished in photographs by its extra wing-mounted pods.
Mercury's abundant communications equipment allows it to also perform non-nuclear command, control and communications (C3) operations. For this reason, the E-6 has occasionally been deployed to Europe and the Middle East to serve as flying C3 hubs. For example, VQ-4 deployed to Qatar for three years from 2006 to 2009, relaying information such as IED blast reports and medical evacuation requests from US troops in Iraq who had no contact with their headquarters.
Two Navy Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons currently operate the E-6: VQ-3 "Ironmen" and VQ-4 "Shadows", both under Navy Strategic Communications Wing 1. These are based at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, as well routine launches from Travis AFB in California and Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. At least one E-6 is always kept in the air. E-6s on the submarine communications mission often fly in circles over the ocean at the lowest possible speed - sometimes up to ten hours at a time. Those performing the nuclear command post mission typically remain on standby near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. The E-6's nuclear weapons mission has also occasionally made its operations fodder for conspiracy theorists and foreign propaganda outlets.
The E-6 platform should remain operational until 2040 thanks to a service life program and ongoing modifications to the systems and radios. While the Mercury has proven its usefulness as an airborne communications center to support troops in the field, the airborne command post will be considered a success if it never has to perform its primary mission. After all, the essence of nuclear deterrence is to convince potential adversaries that no first strike will be enough to prevent a destructive response. The E-6s are an important part of making that threat credible.
E 6b Mercury: More Than The Doomsday Plane
Sébastien Roblin holds a master's degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and was an assistant professor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for WASHINGTON. The head of the U.S. Strategic Command has asked the Navy to lay the groundwork for a future airborne command and control aircraft, one that could include joint development with the Air Force.
Gen. John Hyten, who took over STRATCOM in November, told members of Congress on Wednesday that the Navy has begun planning for a possible replacement of the E-6B fleet, which provides airborne command, control and communications between the national command authority. US strategic and non-strategic forces, although these planes are expected to fly until 2038.
While Hyten said the planning is still in the very early stages of analysis, he told reporters after the hearing that the reality of defense acquisitions means the work must begin now.
"We're only 20 years away from 2038, so if you're going to build big planes with huge command and control requirements, you have to start thinking about those things now," Hyten said. "That's what the Navy is starting to do. I've asked them to look at what's next."
Boeing E 6b Mercury, 164406 / 24505, Us Navy
Both Hyten and Adm. Bill Moran, vice chief of naval operations, said there could be an advantage to partnering with the Air Force and developing a single platform to perform various command and control missions, with Moran telling Congress: "We're looking at a way to get to a common program, or at least a common aircraft, to accomplish both missions."
The Navy's fleet of 16 E-6B aircraft is based on a commercial Boeing 707, the same airframe used by the Air Force for the vast majority of its command and control assets, including the E8-C Joint Surveillance Targeting Attack Radar System, the E -3 Sentry airborne warning and control system, RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft and OC-135B Open Skies aircraft.
The Air Force has warned that these platforms simply have too much airframe wear and maintenance has become prohibitively expensive due to parts no longer being made for the 707. According to a 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service, the E-6B aircraft have an average age of 21 years.
Moran told Congress that while the Navy may have E-6B fleets by 2038, that is pushing the limits of the aircraft.
E 6b Nuclear Doomsday Plane: Did It Fly Because Trump Got Covid?
"The 707s are really old planes, and they're going to be really, really old when we get to the end of life based on the life extension that we're looking at," he told reporters, before adding that it only makes sense. to see if the Navy and Air Force can develop something together to reduce costs.
However, this does not mean that there will be only one platform for all monitoring tasks. As Moran pointed out, the plane itself is just a "truck" that carries the vital equipment inside. At the same time, Moran acknowledged that there may be benefits to be shared from the recapitalization efforts currently underway for JSTARS.
"We're always looking for places where we can't duplicate ... [that] enable us to do it at the lowest possible cost because they've already developed technologies or we've already developed them," he said. "Part of that is our responsibility to make sure we do this at the best possible cost to the American taxpayer, and part of that includes sharing technology and sharing ideas."
The aging E-6B fleet is just one part of an aging nuclear command and control infrastructure that Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called "robust, resilient and antiquated."
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