The U.S. Navy's E-6B Mercury aircraft plays a crucial role in the U.S. Strategic Command.Its predecessor,the E-6A Hermes,was a command and control plane only for the Navy's ballistic missile submarines.With the advent of the E-6B and its more advanced avionics,as well as a new battlestaff area,the Navy aircraft was promoted to the Looking Glass mission previously allotted to the U.S. Air Force's EC-135s.
Today,these Boeing 707 derivatives are the Airborne Command Post for the entire nuclear deterrent force,from Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles,to strategic bombers and the Navy's Ohio class of Trident missile submarines.Should the Global Operations Center of U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base,Nebraska become disabled,the E-6B aircraft will assume its command and control functions.
The E-6B has a speed of 0.88 Mach,with a range of 8700 nautical miles and a ceiling of 42,000 feet.It has a crew of 3 pilots,2 airborne communications officers,2 flight engineers and 7-15 mission crew.Totaling 15 aircraft,the 2 E-6B squadrons are based at Tinker Air Force Base,Oklahoma.
A sixteenth E-6B is used as a testbed at NAS Patuxent River,Maryland.
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