We all have been hearing of doomsday, doomsday clock, and doomsday planes of late. Somehow there is a point at which they all come together. If there is a doomsday, which is a day we don’t want to imagine as it may be characterized by nuclear attacks, the doomsday plane will serve to whisk the president of the US and other important people away.
Yes, just as in the movies which showed the president going to those long undergrounds only to later end up in a plane that keeps flying around.
There are other countries such as Russia that also have doomsday planes. However, Wiredbugs takes a look at 20 things about the American doomsday planes that you should know.
1) First of all, there are four of these planes which are referred to as the doomsday planes. Also referred to as the “National Airborne Operations Center,” they are called E-4B, and are converted from the Boeing 747.
2) The planes are designed for serious emergencies, or as you may not want to call it, Doomsday. Because of that, they are made strong enough to survive any form of attack including biological, chemical, Asteroids, and even nuclear. I guess we can simply say is a bunker ready for the air or maybe a flying war room.
3) The doomsday planes come with special equipment such as a very-low-frequency antenna and a communications system that provides secure, jam-resistant, worldwide communications to meet essential wartime requirements for high priority military users. Interestingly, from the plane, the president can put a call through to anyone in any part of the world and military leaders can get to talk to any forces.
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4) It was Ronald Reagan that commissioned the plane in the 1980s. That was in the dying days of the Cold War following the heightened tensions and the fear of nuclear war.
5) All the four Doomsday planes were already ready and upgraded to E-4Bs by 1985. Before then, it was the E-4A that was in use since 1974 and the first of the E-A4s was used in 1980 after it was delivered to the American Air force in January 1980.
6) The doomsday planes are not the largest in the world as you would think, but they are quite okay. The planes have wings that span close to 196 feet and a height of 63 feet. Over 230 feet long, each of the planes can only hold 112 people.
7) Essentially, it is still the largest crew for any military plane both in the US and the probably whole world. One thing to add here is the fact that it has three decks.
8) You always see President Trump on the Air Force One right? Well, there is a Doomsday plane that is never too far from it, and in fact is more important. The super-secretive plane is always following the president when he travels around the world in case someone crazy decides to start a nuclear war during one of the president’s travels to any country outside the US.
9) Also, one of the planes that is constantly ready in case the president needs it for any form of a security emergency. This is waiting to serve as a backup plane in case the Air Force One malfunctions.
10) If a World War III were to start and America gets under attack, the president would head for the Airforce one, while the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff would board one of four Doomsday Planes and head for the safe skies. It is from there that they would monitor and control things happening down here.
11) A retirement talk was initiated for the fleet in 2006 with a hope that they would be kept aside in 2009. In February 2007 only one was retired. Nevertheless, the decision to retire it was reversed in May that same year after Robert Gates took over as Secretary of Defence. The plane was brought back simply because considering its capabilities.
12) The last time the plane was used was during the administration of George Bush, in 2001. Specifically, it was used on September 11 of that year after one of the worst disasters to hit the US. Nevertheless, it was seen circling the US skies in 2016. The plane which plane took off from close to San Diego and veered towards the Pacific Ocean before turning around to circle over Denver in Colorado for an hour was confirmed by a spokeswoman for the Naval Air Forces.
The remaining three provide support during emergencies such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or other natural disasters. They are used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for such purposes.
13) It cannot be hacked. Yeah, not only is it stubborn against any form of attack, but it is also stubborn to hacking. That is because it is dated, and in fact, it is for that reason that it is left that way using traditional analog flight instruments.
14) So because it is made for the president and most of those top guys that are important to the security of the “world” it should be state of the arts not so? Not so. Although there have been some modifications of the interior, most especially the technological stuff therein, the design is still mostly as of old. The cockpit is still out of touch with the most modern of things, so I guess it’s no party place. It’s all business.
15) It’s really more serious business than you think it is. Once the US President is in the country, one of the doomsday clocks always remains on alert at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. The serious business is that its engines are turning 24 hours a day, ready to launch and rendezvous with the president the moment there is a need for an emergency evacuation.
16) Let me admit, I don’t know how fast the plane can get on the air, even though I believe as others have suggested, that it will not take up to 15 minutes. Nevertheless, it has certified crew members dedicated to getting it going once it is called for. It has been suggested that the crew may be the only ones in the world with such training to operate the plane.
17) The way it works is that the four planes rotate in being on the alert from week to week. Besides, there is always work being done on one constantly. This means that as one is being on the alert, another is being serviced while two are remaining.
18) With everything said, none of the doomsday planes have ever been used in a time of war. Apart from the one used in 2001, all of them have only always just remained on the alert.
19) For how long can the E-4Bs remain in-flight, you may ask. For up to a week. This is thanks to its in-flight refueling which means it never easily runs out of fuel. So far, has been able to remain airborne and operational up to 35.4 hours.
20) Finally, don’t talk too much about the planes. Even the US government doesn’t talk about it and the Air Force will not publicly acknowledge owning some of them. You know the thing with national security.
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