How does the Secretary of Defense, his Joint Chiefs of Staff and his commanders stay “in the loop” with the pilots in the air and the troops on the ground, particularly with the way the new warfare in this century is developing at such a rapid pace?
The answer is a global network of interconnected communications throughout all the military, detailed here, but that which also encapsulates in particular the important nuclear arm of the modern Air Force. They are two powerful and intimidating pieces of air force hardware that operate in the skies and assist the commanders and the defense secretary in making very quick and very secure decisions when it comes to a nuclear strike!
E6-B Mercury
Those long-empty B-52 parking spaces will soon get visits by two nuclear command planes, the E-4B Nightwatch and E-6B Mercury, both which will occasionally sit alert there. During a nuclear war, the planes would become the flying command posts of the defense secretary and STRATCOM commander, respectively. If a strike order is given by the president, the planes would be used to transmit launch codes to bombers, ICBMs and submarines. At least one of the four nuclear-hardened E-4Bs — formally called the National Airborne Operations Center, but commonly known as the Doomsday Plane — is always on 24-hour alert.
E-4B Nightwatch – The Doomsday Plane
Barksdale and other bases with nuclear bombers are preparing to build storage facilities for a new nuclear cruise missile that is under development. During his trip, Goldfein received updates on the preliminary work for a proposed replacement for the 400-plus Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the new long-range cruise missile.
Some do offer that we may not be quite ready for a military confrontation against the nature of the nuclear attacks from North Korea, stating that our capabilities are much overstated and that the chances of stopping a nuclear missile after launch is nearly impossible. While that may have merit, after reading the above statements regarding our advanced communications capabilities, it is somewhat soothing to know that we’re not just sitting on the sidelines, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for a missile launch by our enemies.
Read on the final page about why it may be that North Korea has been silent and may be biding their time to ensure that Japan remains locked in a constitutional crisis for which they may not be able to adequately defend themselves!
SAC used to have planes in air all the time.mMy husband would spend 2 weeks out of each month on alert by his plane. We were a lot safer. Need more General LeMays
Release the krackon.
Finally a President with balls!!!
President Trump has information that we mere citizens are not privy to, so I believe his prep is just the Boy Scout Code…”Be Prepared.”
” Be careful”
Go go git’em git’em. Nuke them till they glow.