U.S. scares Russia with E-6B Mercury doomsday plane, which controls launches of Trident II D5 intercontinental ballistic missiles with 475-kiloton nuclear warheads
Last week, the United States Air Force sent four B-52 Stratofortress nuclear bombers to Europe. Now it is known that an E-6B Mercury doomsday aircraft has landed in Iceland.
Here's What We Know
The arrival of the aircraft in Iceland was reported by the US Air Force European Command on Twitter. The service's account notes that the E-6B Mercury is carrying out activities within the command's area of responsibility.
A @USNavy E-6B Mercury assigned to @US_STRATCOM Wing One arrived in #Iceland recently, while conducting operations in the USEUCOM area of responsibility. The crew met w/U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Carrin Patman & other diplomatic & military leaders. #WeAreNATO @usembreykjavik pic.twitter.com/CLYdl86kP4
- U.S. European Command (@US_EUCOM) February 28, 2023
The doomsday aircraft is designed to communicate with strategic nuclear-powered missile cruisers that carry intercontinental ballistic missiles. These are Ohio-class submarines.
Each submarine can carry up to 24 Trident II D5 missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Their maximum launch range is 11,300 km, and their thermo-nuclear warhead capacity is 475 kilotons. Instead of Trident II D5, Ohio submarines can carry 154 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 km.
The E-6B Mercury is a modification of the Boeing 707-320 passenger jet. It can reach speeds of 981 km/h at a cruising speed of 842 km/h and is capable of climbing up to 12.8 km altitude. The practical range is 11,760 km.
The E-6B Mercury is equipped with an automated intercontinental ballistic missile launch control system. To communicate with the missile cruisers in the ultra-long-wave range, additional antennas are provided which are released from the fuselage of the aircraft.
Source: @US_EUCOM
