Northrop Grumman upgrades E-6B Mercury command and communications aircraft
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract to upgrade the US Navy’s Boeing E-6B Mercury aircraft. The defense company is modernizing the “doomsday aircraft”, which is designed to control strategic aviation and nuclear submarines. About it informs defense blog.
As part of the agreement, Northrop Grumman will upgrade the E-6B fleet over five years. The work will be carried out at the aircraft maintenance and production center. The contract amount was 111 million dollars. Modernization of the E-6B is aimed at improving the efficiency of communications and command and control.
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The Boeing E-6B Mercury was built on the basis of the passenger Boeing 707-320. The aircraft provides backup communications with nuclear submarines. The E-6B can also be used as an air command post for the US Strategic Command. The aircraft is equipped with an automatic ICBM launch control system and a satellite communications terminal.
Earlier in the publication The Drive listed aircraft that conduct reconnaissance operations near the Russian borders. The United States operates E-8C JE-8 command and control aircraft, RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drones, and U-2S reconnaissance aircraft.
In August 2021, the head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, announced that Russia was working on a new “Doomsday aircraft”.
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