In a military that operates Raptor stealth fighters, A-10 tank busters, B-52 bombers and Harrier jump jets, the U.S. Navy’s placid-looking E-6 Mercury, based on the 707 airliner, seems particularly inoffensive. But don’t be deceived by appearances.
1 WASHINGTON D.C. 688th Cyberspace Wingmen from the 38th Engineering Squadron provided direct support to the National Military Command Center in Washington D.C.
The Wingmen directly enhanced the joint staff and the Secretary of Defense’s execution of the NMCC mission by engineering and installing updated communication systems.
“For the past three and a half years, the 38th Cyberspace Engineering and Installation Group has sent engineering professionals to support the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Christopher Schlak, deputy chief, N2C3 Division, Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
“They were able to design and engineer updates to networks that support nuclear command and control links between the NMCC, senior DoD leadership, White House leaders and nuclear forces in the field.”
The E-6 command and control plane could order a launch in response to a nuclear attack.
Key point: The airborne command post helps to ensure deterrence by showcasing how the President could still give orders from the air. Here is how the Cold War-era role is still kept today.
In a military that operates Raptor stealth fighters, A-10 tank busters, B-52 bombers and Harrier jump jets, the U.S. Navy’s placid-looking E-6 Mercury, based on the 707 airliner, seems particularly inoffensive. But don’t be deceived by appearances. Though the Mercury doesn’t carry any weapons of its own, it may be in a sense the deadliest aircraft operated by the Pentagon, as its job is to command the launch of land-based and sea-based nuclear ballistic missiles.
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