Seoul, South Korea | Fri May 10, 2024
That economy-class seat you once occupied while flying in Asia might one day be the very place from where the United States nuclear weapons arsenal is controlled.
This is due to the fact that Sierra Nevada Corporation, the company in charge of building the replacements for the US Air Force’s current fleet of strategic command and control military aircraft, also referred to as “Doomsday” planes, has acquired five Boeing 747 passenger jets that were formerly flown by domestic South Korean carrier Korean Air.
The Doomsday planes, often referred to as the E-4B “Nightwatch,” are intended to serve as command and control hubs for the US military in the event of a national emergency, such as a nuclear war, that renders ground-based command centers unusable or destroyed.
An Air Force fact sheet on the E-4Bs states that they could become what amounted to a Pentagon in the sky, carrying on board the US president, secretary of defense, and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among more than 100 other individuals with the capacity to command US forces anywhere in the world from the aircraft.
According to the US Department of Homeland Security, the Doomsday planes are designed to withstand the effects of electromagnetic pulses, which are bursts of energy released by nuclear explosions and have the potential to “disrupt and permanently damage electrical components and entire systems within most critical infrastructure sectors and impact large-scale infrastructure.”
According to the Air Force, at least one Doomsday plane is always on standby at a US military installation somewhere in the world.
A representative for Sierra Nevada, based in Colorado, acknowledged the acquisition of the Korean Air aircraft on Friday, but they would not provide any more information.
On April 26, however, Sierra Nevada was given a $13 billion contract by the Air Force to design and build the new Doomsday jet, officially known as the Survivable Airborne Operations Center. The project is expected to be finished by 2036, according to a release from the Defense Department.
An Air Force spokesperson verified on Friday that the contract was given out in April.
The Department of Defense’s Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications capability will remain secure and operationally relevant for many years to come because to the development of this vital national security weapon system. The weapon system would consist of a Commercial Derivative Aircraft that will be hardened and modified to meet military specifications in order to satisfy operational needs, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told CNN.
At Ohio’s Dayton International Airport, Sierra Nevada inaugurated a 100,000-square-foot hangar for aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul last year. Work on a second hangar of a comparable size has already started.
A 747-800 was depicted within the Dayton plant in an artist’s rendering.
Compared to the smaller and older 747-200 airframes of the current Doomsday fleet, which joined Air Force service in the 1980s, the 747-800s would constitute an upgrade.
Korean Air stated earlier this week that Sierra Nevada would purchase five of its aircraft for $675 million. The airline stated in a statement that the sale of the jets was a part of a “mid- to long-term introduction plan for new aircraft” and that it anticipated the transaction to be finalized by September 30, 2025.