Crew of U.S. 'Doomsday Plane' give rare interview and reveal the jet has analogue controls to stop it being 'fried' in a nuclear war so it can whisk VIPs into the air

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*One of the four 'Doomsday planes' are always kept ready to launch if needed

•The craft carry and keep safe key US officials in the event of a nuclear attack

•Serving as a 'backup Pentagon', they can communicate with anyone worldwide

•The current fleet were built in the 1980s but deliberately have no digital tech

The crew of Air Force One's little-know sister aircraft the 'Doomsday Plane'
have given a rare interview to lift the lid on some of the jet's secrets.

The modified Boeing 747 is one of four that are designed to whisk high-ranking
members of the government into the air in the event of a nuclear attack.

Its crew spoke about some of its capabilities on Tuesday morning as acting
Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan boarded the E-4B at Joint Base Andrews in
Maryland for a week-long trip to Asia.

The aircraft, also known as the National Airborne Operations Center, will ferry
Shanahan and his staff to Hawaii, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

'It’s a common misconception, but this plane doesn’t have digital touch screens
in the cockpit or elsewhere,' a crew member said.

'The conditions that this plane is meant to fly in call for analogue, since
digital tech would fry during a nuclear war.'

This makes them immune to any large electromagnetic pulse generated by a nuclear
disaster.

'It's like a backup Pentagon. There's always one plane on alert and ready to go
— 24 hours, seven days a week,' a crew member told CNBC.

'Think of it as this, the plane is basically a flying command center,' a
Pentagon spokesman said aboard the aircraft.

E-4B Doomsday planes follow the President of the United States during his
travels, whether domestic or international.

The aircraft, slated to have reached their service life by 2039, have been in
operation since 1980.

The craft carry special equipment and have the capability to communicate with
anyone, anywhere in the world, and support analysts and strategists in-flight.

The planes can also be refuelled in the air and have remained airborne and
operational for as long as 35.4 hours in one stint.

However, the craft were designed to be able to operate in-flight for a full week
without needing to land.

The planes, also called 'National Airborne Operation Centers' when they are
in-flight, have special equipment and have the capability to communicate with
anyone from anywhere in the world and support analysts and strategists on the
flight.

The E-4Bs are operated by the First Airborne Command and Control Squadron of the
595th Command and Control Group, are coordinated by the United States Strategic
Command and are stationed near Omaha, Nebraska, at the Offutt Air Force Base.

When the president is in the US, a Doomsday plane is kept with its engine
running at all times and ready at the Offutt base 24 hours a day.

If the President goes abroad, the E-4Bs follow and are known to the crews as
'Air Force One When It Counts', according to Politico.

Should an emergency occur, one of the four craft is thus able to rendezvous with
Air Force One almost immediately.

The design of the plane is meant to survive an electromagnetic pulse with all
the systems intact, even down to the fact that they still use traditional analog
flight instruments because they are less vulnerable.

A Doomsday Plane is capable of operating with the largest crew of any aircraft
in US Air Force history, at 112 people, both flight and mission personnel. The
planes all have three decks

The planes also have in-flight refueling and has been able to remain airborne
and operational up to 35.4 hours. Though it has been designed to be able to
operate in-flight for a full week.

The planes are outfitted with special equipment including a wire antenna that
can keep the president in communication with the nuclear submarine fleet, even
if ground-based communications had been destroyed.

The E-4 fleet were first operated in the 1970s during the Cold War.

Through to the end of the war, one of the flying war rooms were kept constantly
on alert at Andrew's Air Force Base, ready to lift off with the president on
board in just 15 minutes.

It was believed that these planes were the best way to keep the president safe
in the case of nuclear attack.

In 2006, there was talk that the E-4B fleet would be retired in 2009 under
then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Instead, just one of the fleet was retired in the February of 2007.

When Robert Gates took over as Secretary of Defense in May 2007, he reversed the
decision and the plane, with its unique capabilities, returned to the fleet.

Electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) are short but powerful bursts of broadband
electromagnetic energy.

They can be caused naturally — such as by lightning or meteorite impacts — or
through nuclear explosions.

EMPs can cause damage to certain electronic systems by inducing high currents
and voltage surges — and at high enough intensities can even damage physical
structures.

Weapons based on EMPs have been developed to knock out target electrical
systems.

The US Doomsday plane fleet — which carry around key government officials in the
event of a nuclear war — rely on non-digital technology to keep them safe from
the effects of an EMP.





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