What is Doomsday Plane
Such aircraft can remain in flight for a whole week, provided
The aircraft is equipped with equipment for receiving fuel from tanker aircraft. With periodic in-flight refueling, the aircraft can stay in the air for a week (possibly more).
The period of its duty in the air is limited only by the operating life of the oil in the oil systems of the engines.
American Doomsday planes
E-4B "Nightwatch" known as NEACP (NationalEmergency Airborne Command Post), pronounced [niːkæp], and since 1994 received the second name NAOC (National Airborne Operations Center) - air command posts (ACCP).
E-4Bs are called Doomsday planes, or"End of the world". They are intended for the president, secretary of defense, and other members of the top military leadership of the United States in the event of a nuclear war if ground control structures are destroyed or damaged.
The aircraft received large workspaces, the area is 429.2 square meters.
As for the E-4, we originally created three E-4As.and one E-4B: the former were then brought to the level of a later modification. The E-4B can be distinguished from the old version and in general from almost all other existing aircraft by the large fairing, where the satellite antennas are located.
According to data from open sources,the plane can stay in flight for a week—of course, provided that it is refueled. To fully refuel an E-4B in the air, two KC-135 tanker aircraft are needed.
In a nuclear war, no one canto guarantee even this, however, if these conditions are met, then formally the time spent in the air is limited only by the service life of the oil in the oil systems of the engines. Also, all equipment on board is protected from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. For all that, on board, depending on the situation, there can be 60-144 people.
American aircraft design
- Upper deck
The upper deck is located above the middle in the superstructure at the front of the fuselage, where conventional Boeing 747s have the cockpit and upper saloon.
Cockpit and hshe resting the upper deck
The cockpit includes workplacescrew commander, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer. Behind the cockpit there is a resting place and berths for the flight crew and other crew members.
- Middle deck
The middle deck is located on the site of the main passenger compartment of the Boeing 747.
Front zone
In the front area there is a kitchen, stairs tothe upper deck, to the lower deck to the forward technical area. There are refrigerators, freezers, food supplies, stoves and microwaves that provide hot meals for all crew members on long, multi-day flights with refueling in the air. There are four steward and security seats on the left side of the front area.
Zone NCA
The front zone is followed by the NCA (NationalCommand Authority) which serves for the work and rest of the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense or persons who, if necessary, will replace them according to the law. It includes a work area, a recreation area, sleeping places, a dressing room. Telephone equipment allows you to establish reliable and secure communication using aircraft systems with any control structures and heads of other states.
Command Meeting Room (NCA)
The command meeting room contains a conference table, three NCA chairs, eighteen additional chairs, a lectern, and two projection screens.
Communications and communication zone
The communications and communications zone is divided into zonesvoice communication and data transmission. The voice communication area, located on the right, consists of the workplaces of the radio operator, the operator of the semi-automatic switchboard and the communication officer. The data transfer area is on the left.
Aviation equipment area
The aviation equipment area contains electrical equipment for powering aircraft systems, flight avionics, oxygen equipment, luggage and spare parts storage areas.
Meeting room and projection room
The meeting room is a securezone for secret meetings. It has a conference table and nine armchairs. At the end of the meeting room, there is a projection screen capable of displaying computer graphics, 35 mm slides on screens in the meeting room and in the command meeting room (NCA).
Operations team zone
The working area is located behind the projection room."Operations team" containing 29 workstations, data processing equipment. Workstations provide access to data, telephone and radio voice communication channels, direct ("hot") communication lines, intercom operators and command. There is sound recording equipment.
Technical control area
In the left front part of the control zone space there are a switchboard, SHF SATCOM satellite communication systems, and other equipment.
- Lower deck
Lower front technical area and nlower rear technical area
In the lower front technical area are installedwater tanks, 1200-kVA electrical equipment, step-down transformers, ultra-low-frequency transmitters, SHF SATCOM space communication equipment. In front of the lower technical area, on the right side of the outer doors, there are electric ladders for entering and exiting the aircraft to the ground.
In the rear technical area there is an operator's workstation and other equipment for communication with the Pentagon command post.
Towed antenna area
The towed antenna area contains a coil8 km towed VLW antenna for communication with submarines, operator workstation with antenna release and retraction control devices and antenna status indication.
Russian and Soviet Doomsday planes
In the USSR, there were a large number of aircraft with similar functionality:
- IL-22,
- Il-22M-11,
- IL-22M-15 based on the IL-18 passenger aircraft.
In the 80s, serial production of the aircraft was launchedIL-86. It was he who became the basis for the main Russian air command post - the Il-80 aircraft, or Il-86VzPU. Over the entire period, four Il-80s and two Il-76SKs were built, which were supposed to solve similar problems.
Both cars can be immediately recognized by their characteristic"Hump", where various electronic equipment is located. However, there is one important difference: the Il-76SK was created not on the basis of the Il-80, but on the basis of the transport Il-76. And this car is much smaller.
Il-80 is conceptually close to E-4 —and notonly externally. Initially, the aircraft was developed to evacuate the country's top military leadership while maintaining the ability to simultaneously command the Armed Forces. This also applies to nuclear conflict. Of course, the car has everything necessary to make people on board feel safe. Unfortunately, it is impossible to announce the characteristics of the Il-80 and Il-76SK due to the secrecy that accompanies the aircraft from their very birth.
However, some details are publicly available.It is known, in particular, that the Il-80 should have a failure rate ten times lower than other military aircraft. It must be assumed that even if this is an exaggeration, it is not far from the truth.
Latest aircraft
- Russian
New air commands are being developed in Russiaitems better known as "Doomsday" planes. They will be created on the basis of the Il-96-400M wide-body airliner, and subsequently at least two of these air launchers will become a replacement for the Il-80.
The project is called "Zveno-3S".The aircraft's radio system is designed to transmit orders to troops within a radius of 6 thousand kilometers; it will be able to communicate with strategic aviation, mobile and silo installations, and submarines.
Compared with its predecessor - IL-80, -the range of the new Il-96-400M, which is a deep modernization of the Il-96-300, will double. A detailed description of the Doomsday aircraft is a state secret.
Expert of the Russian Institute for StrategicResearch (RISS), candidate of political sciences Andrei Gubin suggested that new WSPs in Russia are needed, since it meets the trends of the time. He also stressed that in the modernized Il-96-400M all the internal equipment will be domestic.
- American
In 2018, the Pentagon announced a competition to modernize the Boeing E-4B. As part of this, the on-board electronics must be updated.
The work covers:support / upgrade of software / hardware for national communications and communications with nuclear forces (N2CS), flight support, technical support, support and modernization of N2CS systems, design of N2CS systems and modifications.
Pentagon Press Service Statement
Starting from 2021, they plan to allocate up to $ 100 million annually for the modernization program
Earlier, on July 26, The Pentagon shared footageyour air command post. US Department of Defense Headquarters Press Secretary John Kirby posted a video on Twitter showing an E-4B being refueled in midair.
An E-4B refuel mid-flight simply never gets old. My goodness, the skills it takes! Great flying by these aircrews. Thank you so much. pic.twitter.com/ZRxXPOd84O
— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) July 26, 2021
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