Posted on 04/26/2017 6:51:26 PM PDT by Mariner
The U.S. military's most dangerous weapon isn't the F-22 Raptor, Arleigh Burke class destroyer, or even the new aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. It's a converted airliner that doesn't carry a single weapon but can start—or finish—World War III. It's the E-6 Mercury.
The E-6 Mercury, The National Interest explains, is designed to fight a nuclear war. Described by the U.S. Navy as a "communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft," the E-6 is also called TACAMO, an acronym that stands for Take Charge and Move Out. This reflects its mission during a crisis: get in the air quickly and avoid being destroyed in a nuclear first strike.
The E-6 uses Very Low Frequency (VLF) radios to communicate with Ohio-class fleet ballistic missile submarines, relaying orders from the National Command Authority—including orders to launch Trident nuclear missiles.The E-6 also has the ability to relay orders to land-based ICBMs as a backup the Air Force's E-4 Looking Glass aircraft.
The 16 converted airliners have a flight crew of 22 and can stay aloft for long periods of time, broadcasting Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) to U.S. strategic nuclear forces around the globe. EAMs are frequently picked up by amateur radio enthusiasts. Here's one uploaded to YouTube:
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Rest assured these guys are in the air 7x24x365 and operationally ready.
All the world's militaries want to know where TACAMO is at all times.
Do the pilots fly with a patch over one eye?
There was a story not to long ago about a plane “loitering” over Denver for quite some time and it generated a lot of phone calls. Turned out to be one of these planes and finally left to I think a base in Oklahoma. I think it flew out of a AFB in Sacramento California.
They like to fly over oceans.
The most dangerous weapon in history is a radio. I forgot who said that.
“This reflects its mission during a crisis: get in the air quickly and avoid being destroyed in a nuclear first strike.”
LOL
When the first squadron was commissioned, the Commander gave a pep talk to all aircrews and staff on the tarmac. When done, he saluted and said: “Take Charge and Move Out”.
Since it was all so secret then they didn’t want to ID the mission or it’s importance so they named the aircraft “TACAMO” and the squadrons Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 and 4.
Named ‘em recon squadrons to hide a more secret mission.
Soon everyone realized that as soon as the wire was dropped and the VLF transmitter was lit off, everyone in the world knew their mission and exactly where they were.
And everyone also knew, including the aircrew, that once lit they had only 20 minutes to live.
“s a backup the Air Force’s E-4 Looking Glass aircraft.”
My good friend and fellow AF Officer, MG John Borling was the OIC on Looking Glass when he was the SAC DO. Pretty good after spending 6+ years in a North Vietnam prison.
They sure have got some good use out of the 707 airframe
Depending on era I probably participated in a few Polo Hat exercises with him.
For about 45 seconds, I thought we were in the 'big one'.
Imagine being the guy tasked with sending the message that would launch hundreds of nuke missiles...standing by...listening...hoping the next EAM is a drill too.
I was that guy.
What stress.
We have to stay calm.
The first send of the message over VLF was via Morse Code and I was always concerned that my dits and dahs were clear. I was actually worried the change of a single character could mean the difference between a drill message and an actual.
Seems everyone in the chain of command was concerned about that too as they made us practice all the time.
I worked on several Nacelle systems, lol. I think this one is a tad big. My biggest failure was the cf6-32, wish this engine would have been built. We put a lot of time in it, I personally lofted the Nacelle on scribe-coat. We were well along in it’s development.
Things got really exciting the night the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. You could hear the nervous tenor in all the voices of everyone you communicated with.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
