The command and management plane will permit the president to proceed main the nation in case of nuclear warfare
The US will develop a brand new ‘doomsday aircraft,’ meant to permit the president to proceed main the nation in case of a nuclear warfare or different main catastrophe that destroys command and management facilities on the bottom, the Air Pressure has introduced.
A $13-billion contract for the Survivable Airborne Operations Middle (SAOC) undertaking has been awarded to Sierra Nevada Corp, a US Air Pressure spokesperson introduced in a assertion on Friday.
Work on the brand new strategic command and management navy plane can be performed on the firm’s amenities in Colorado, Nevada and Ohio, the assertion learn. The deadline for the undertaking is 2036, it added.
In keeping with the spokesman, the SAOC can be based mostly on a business spinoff jet, which might be hardened and modified to satisfy the requirements of the Pentagon.
“The event of this essential nationwide safety weapon system ensures the division’s nuclear command, management, and communications functionality is operationally related and safe for many years to return,” the assertion learn.
The SAOC is meant to change into a alternative for the getting old E-4B Nightwatch plane or the Nationwide Airborne Operations Middle that the US Air Pressure is utilizing in the mean time.
The E-4Bs, that are based mostly on a Boeing 747 jet, have been round because the mid-Seventies. The planes are anticipated to be retired within the early 2030s. In keeping with Reuters, it has change into more and more tough to keep up the plane as elements for them change into out of date.
The US Air Pressure presently operates 4 ‘doomsday planes,’ with not less than one among them being continually on alert. The E-4Bs carry superior communications gear, are able to refueling within the air, and might face up to nuclear blasts and varied electromagnetic results.
Russia additionally has 4 ‘doomsday planes,’ that are based mostly on the Ilyushin Il-80 jet. The plane first took to the skies in 1985, however their communication gear has been upgraded in recent times. A supply advised RIA-Novosti in 2022 that the planes can now change information with Russian nuclear submarines.
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