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What is the \u2018Doomsday plane\u2019?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Air Force Times on April 26 got a rare opportunity to board \u201cGORDO14,\u201d one of America\u2019s four E-4Bs<\/a> flown by the 595th Command and Control Group at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for a two-hour spin over America\u2019s heartland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On its best day, the jet offers 5,000 square feet of mobile office space, complete with a secure conference room, media briefing room and a few cots. On its worst, it\u2019s a hub for the president and other federal officials to orchestrate war while remaining airborne for three days at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its pre-takeoff safety briefing echoes that of any commercial airliner, but this is not your average Boeing 747. Specialized masks hang in the cockpit to keep pilots from being blinded by nuclear blasts, and its few windows are covered in a mesh that protects against electromagnetic shockwaves from those explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 42-year-old fuselage bears witness to large and small moments in presidential history. On Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin\u2019s first Nightwatch flight, he joined a video conference in which President Joe Biden decided to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan, 595th Command and Control Group boss Col. Brian Golden told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presidents Carter and Ronald Reagan are the only two presidents who have publicly flown on the E-4B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Periodic upgrades and 30-day stretches of heavy maintenance take jets out of an already limited rotation, so Secretary Austin currently only uses the E-4B for overseas trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can fit a crew of 65 troops, from pilots with several years of experience under their belts to communications system operators fresh out of technical school. A flight engineer, navigator, flight attendants and security forces are part of the aircrew as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For one of the oldest platforms in the Air Force\u2019s inventory, it carries one of the service\u2019s most advanced and diverse suites of audiovisual and data transmission technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One E-4B is always on alert, meaning its rows of boxy communications systems are on and one of the plane\u2019s four engines could be running in case the crew needs to jump in at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Together, the comms specialists decide which satellites, radars and antennas create the best route to talk to the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis jet does not shut down \u2014 24\/7, 365, there\u2019s folks back there making sure that those 42 disparate communication systems are connected when they need to be connected, and they\u2019re constantly maintaining those,\u201d said Lt. Col. Mike Shirley, the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron commander. \u201cThey\u2019re also receiving notifications, receiving messages and providing that information to the battle staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on the needs of the VIPs and joint battle staffers on board, the jets can reach any cell phone or landline number. They can pull in radio and television signals, read text messages and broadcast their own video. And they can communicate with other military platforms around the world, including units on the ground or undersea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nightwatch can also serve as a utility player during natural disasters where phone lines and other forms of contact have been wiped out. The jet can ensure governors can reach the federal entities they need or bolster connections for first responders until regular service is restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have so many different things that we can do, we\u2019re able to fill a gap whenever one arises,\u201d said communications control officer Capt. Ryan La Rance, who manages the airmen at the back of the plane. \u201cOur military is very powerful, very lethal, but it doesn\u2019t happen without communication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nightwatch hasn\u2019t always been the Swiss Army knife of military comms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its mission was initially geared toward directing America\u2019s nuclear assets during the Cold War, plus a few other means of connecting national leaders, Golden said. That began to change with the advent of the Internet and satellite communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAround 9\/11, we started having more and more requirements put on us because they realized that this platform was very survivable, it was always up and running and had a lot of room and had a lot of capability with the human capital on board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though its role in a nuclear catastrophe garners the most attention, the fleet can come in handy in a conventional attack on the homeland, a debilitating power grid failure or a devastating natural disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe plane provides a level of physical security and resilience, and the national command authority, that I think is still entirely relevant and appropriate,\u201d said Todd Harrison, a military aviation expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Military historian Robert Hopkins noted in May 2021<\/a> that in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, President George W. Bush opted to stay on a VC-25A \u2014 designated \u201cAir Force One\u201d when the commander in chief is on board \u2014 instead of jumping onto an available E-4B during a stop at Offutt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnother E-4B was caught on camera launching out of [Joint Base Andrews, Maryland] right after the attacks, resulting in a rash of conspiracy theories, and yet another one was shortly airborne over the Midwest,\u201d Hopkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an extreme crisis, he added, it appears that the president and their advisers would instead take flight on a Doomsday plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine if another country started firing cruise missiles into D.C., Harrison said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat could persist for days. \u2026 You absolutely are going to need to get your command authority out of the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Golden doesn\u2019t foresee any major additions to the jet\u2019s capabilities, unless some game-changing technology arises that the military needs to address. As the Air Force\u2019s new B-21 Raider stealth bomber, Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles, air-launched cruise missiles and other nuclear assets come online, E-4B crews will learn how to connect with those systems as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nightwatch is \u201calready poised\u201d to handle more advanced hypersonic weapons that can change direction in flight as long as the crew is warned of a launch, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The colonel also said he\u2019s not worried about the possibility of China or Russia interfering with the E-4B\u2019s comms suite. An adversary could degrade or try to shut down a few systems on the airplane, but the crew would likely still be able to rely on a few dozen other tools for connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have to stay ahead of them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The national command fleet has garnered more interest lately as America watches the Russo-Ukrainian war unfold, concerned that Moscow may introduce nuclear weapons into the conflict. But Golden said his group hasn\u2019t changed its usual daily routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re monitoring situations, we\u2019re making sure we\u2019re up and running all the time,\u201d Golden said. \u201cIf there is ever a threat to the continental United States, that\u2019s when we would be a little more concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Doomsday fleet is run by a joint battle staff of 90 service members, about half of whom are airmen; 244 ops crew members, like flight engineers, flight attendants and comms operators; and 277 maintainers. The jet can fly with up to 112 people aboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior Airman Dallas Jump said he put Offutt at the top of his base wish list when he graduated from basic military training. He snagged it and was assigned to his first job as a Nightwatch communications systems operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI never thought I would be doing anything like this in my life \u2026 getting paid to fly and talk on radios,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Multiple airmen spoke about the fulfillment of directly affecting national security on a daily basis, and avoiding a typical 9-to-5 job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSometimes you get four-star generals on the phone, on these conferences, making decisions,\u201d said La Rance, the communications control officer. \u201cI have an impact on who they\u2019re talking to and how they\u2019re hearing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right now, pilots go to Miami, Florida, for 30 days of training in a Boeing 747-200 simulator also used by E-4B flight attendants and Air Force One crews. Aviators then show their proficiency at air refueling, nighttime operations and other typical tasks across several flights before the final qualification ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur pilots are going to be able to practice something that is incredibly challenging, which is air refueling this aircraft,\u201d Shirley said. \u201cThat\u2019s a huge, huge capability for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Communications operators can spend up to nine months in training, depending on the complexity of their job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the first time in the program\u2019s history, airmen could soon have an E-4B simulator \u2014 scheduled to open by June 1 \u2014 that is expected to handle up to 80% of the unit\u2019s training. That will free up a jet for regular operations instead of being used for practice, though how that will impact fleet readiness is still unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the draw of a unique mission, Golden said retaining experienced communications specialists and maintainers is a perennial concern. The Nightwatch program also competes with the Space Force for satellite communications operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The constant schedule of two weeks on alert and four weeks in an office job can be tiring, airmen said. They\u2019d also like more food trucks in Nebraska. But the job on the jet is often worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNormally I\u2019m making sure the general gets his email,\u201d La Rance said. \u201cThis is one of the few jobs in the Air Force where a comm officer like me gets to fly in the airplane. I\u2019m going to live that up to the fullest extent possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, the Nightwatch carries everything it needs for any situation it might face. But can it last?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Golden said the Air Force should know within the next year or two<\/a> whether it will pursue a more efficient National Airborne Operations Center from the start, or whether it will design new equipment for the current jets, which could eventually be moved to another airframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experts who spoke with Air Force Times suggested the military combine the E-4B and its close counterpart, the Navy\u2019s E-6B Mercury, onto a single airframe for more flexibility if things go south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the E-4B is a flying command center for civilian leadership and can talk to nuclear bombers, missiles and submarines, only the E-6B can order those weapons to launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t you want to add that to your E-4? It makes perfect sense,\u201d Harrison said of nuclear launch capabilities. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got a key element of your command authority on the plane, who would be giving the orders, then why not have the physical means of distributing those orders on that plane?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The services had explored the idea<\/a> of combining the E-4B, E-6B and potentially the smaller C-32 executive transport jets into a single fleet. It appears that plan has fizzled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials argue the three wouldn\u2019t work together, and budget documents no longer describe the \u201cSurvivable Airborne Operations Center,\u201d or SAOC, as an airframe to consolidate the E-4B and E-6B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTotally different mission sets, so they have totally different requirements,\u201d Golden said, adding that combining them wouldn\u2019t leave room for passengers. He also believes that creating a single national command plane would cut down the Pentagon\u2019s options for keeping in contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harrison contends that technology has shrunk enough over the past few decades that the Pentagon could stuff more capability into a smaller airframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Air Force plans to spend at least $3.4 billion to research a new Doomsday plane, though the price tag is still in flux. A development contract for the fleet\u2019s replacement is due out in mid-2023, about a decade before the airframe\u2019s estimated lifespan of 115,000 flight hours expires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/danielwoolfolk-053.jpg.jpg\")
At the ready<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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An evolving mission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Joining the crew<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Looking ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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