Last week, the United States Air Force sent four nuclear weapons to Europe
What is known
The arrival of the aircraft in Iceland was announced by the US Air Force European Command on Twitter. The service account notes that the E-6B Mercury performs activities within the command's area of responsibility.
A @USNavy E-6B Mercury assigned to @US_STRATCOM Wing One arrived in #Iceland recently, while conducting operations in the USEUCOM area of responsibility.The crew met w/U.S.Ambassador to Iceland Carrin Patman & other diplomatic & military leaders.#WeAreNATO @usembreykjavik pic.twitter.com/CLYdl86kP4
— U.S. European Command (@US_EUCOM) February 28, 2023
The doomsday aircraft is designed to communicate with strategic nuclear missile cruisers, which are carriers of intercontinental ballistic missiles. We are talking about Ohio-class submarines.
Each submarine can carry up to 24Trident II D5 missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The maximum launch range is 11,300 km, and the power of the thermonuclear charge is 475 kilotons. Instead of Trident II D5, Ohio submarines can carry 154 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 km.
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The E-6B Mercury doomsday plane ismodification of the Boeing 707-320 passenger airliner. It can reach a speed of 981 km/h with a cruising speed of 842 km/h and is capable of climbing to altitudes of up to 12.8 km. The practical range is 11,760 km.
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The E-6B Mercury is equipped with an automatedcontrol complex for intercontinental ballistic missile launches. For communication with missile cruisers in the ultra-long-wave range, additional antennas are provided, which are released from the aircraft fuselage.