Five Boeing 747 aircraft to become US air force's Doomsday planes
Five Boeing 747 aircraft that were formerly flown by Korean Air have been acquired by the American corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation. After being used for regular commercial passenger flights, these aircraft are expected to be converted for specialized military use.
Sierra Nevada Corporation finding replacements for the US Air Force aircrafts
The Sierra Nevada Corporation, tasked with finding replacements for the US Air Force's inventory of strategic command and control military aircraft, or "Doomsday" planes as they have been nicknamed, purchased the five Boeing 747 passenger airplanes. The planes are supposed to be able to practically run the whole government from the air in the event that the ground becomes habitable, such in the case of a nuclear conflict.
The US Air Force's fleet will undergo a major modernization with the purchase of these aircraft from Korean Air. Since the 1970s, the E-4 fleet has been in operation, consisting of modified Boeing 747-200 aircraft. According to the Korean Air statement, the sale, this was agreed upon for 918 billion Korean won ($674 million), fits in with the airline's medium- to long-term plan to replace its older fleet with newer ones.
"Doomsday planes" are aircraft built especially to maintain military and governmental functions in times of great crisis, such as a nuclear war. These aircraft serve as aerial command centers, preserving contact and oversight in the event that ground-based infrastructure is compromised or destroyed. Usually, the phrase relates to the US National Airborne Operations Center's (NAOC) E-4B Nightwatch aircraft.
The apocalyptic forecast estimates that as many as 75% of the inhabitants of the most severely impacted radiation zones would perish. Fears of a nuclear exchange have increased in recent months due to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and military tensions between Israel and Iran, despite the end of the Cold War. In 1986, a paper was published by Institute of Medicine scientists William Daugherty, Barbara Levi, and Frank Von Hippel that examined the potential effects of a nuclear attack on the continental United States.
"The development of this critical national security weapon system ensures the Department's Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications capability remains operationally relevant and secure for decades to come," Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek told CNN. In order to fulfill military specifications and ensure operational compliance, the weapon system will consist of a Commercial Derivative Aircraft that will undergo modifications and hardening.
The USAF has started a major modernization program for its aging E-4B fleet. Sierra Nevada Corporation was given a $13 billion contract to create the next generation of these airborne command posts, known as the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC), because the current aircraft were reaching the end of their useful lives. This contract represents a significant redesign intended to improve the performance and lifetime of these vital resources. The aircraft will be delivered in their entirety by September 2025, according to the filing.
