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US Doomsday Plane Spotted Flying Over Nebraska Airspace

The plane, a modified Boeing 747, is a flying control center in the event of nuclear war.

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The E-4 advanced airborne command post (AABNCP) during an electromagnetic pulse resistance test.
The E-4 advanced airborne command post (AABNCP) during an electromagnetic pulse resistance test.
Photo: SGT. ERNIE STONE - ID:DF-SC-82-04165 / National Archive / Public Domain

On March 1, shortly after Vladimir Putin activated his nuclear forces, the Nightwatch took flight from an Air Force base in Nebraska. The plane is a modified Boeing 747 that is sometimes popularly known as The Doomsday Plane.

The name is not even painted, because the E-4 Nightwatch is a Control Center for the President of the United States and the government personnel responsible for the nuclear operation in the event of a war with weapons of this type. Its full name is Boeing E-4 E-4 advanced airborne command post (AABNCP), and it is estimated that it cost more than 223 million dollars.

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The Nightwatch is modified to withstand the electromagnetic pulse coming from a nuclear explosion (something that would bring down any other aircraft). It can also refuel mid-flight and, in fact, is ready to stay in the air for a week without interruption. After that time, it has to land to lubricate its engines before taking off again. Its telecommunications systems are via satellite and are also prepared to continue operating if conventional communications networks are destroyed.

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The aircraft, which responds to the radio code GORDO15 , was detected by several online flight tracking services . Apparently the plane carried out a mission of about four hours accompanied by two RC-135S Cobra Ball jets whose use is precisely to calculate ballistic missile trajectories.

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According to aircraft tracking services, the Doomsday plane made a second flight on Tuesday, and it may not be the last. In troubled times like the ones we are experiencing these days, the planes of the Final Judgment (the Government has had several throughout its recent history) remain active practically at all times in case their emergency deployment is necessary.

This article is translated from Gizmodo en Español. Read the original article.