Command & Control

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U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Maurielle Pankau, a 183rd Air Component Operations Squadron intelligence analyst planner, participates in the Shadow Operations Center-Nellis Experiment 3 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, June 13, 2025. Experiment participants were challenged to use human-machine teaming to deliver decision advantage in scenarios marked by complexity, speed, and uncertainty. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Nesbitt)

Air Force AI Targeting Tests Show Promise, Despite Hallucinations

By Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on Sep 25, 2025

Plane spotters in Fort Worth, Texas, caught a glimpse of something rare yesterday, one of the U.S. Air Force's four E-4B Nightwatch jets flying completely stripped of paint and with much of its skin covered in a green zinc chromate coating.
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Rare ‘Naked’ E-4B ‘Doomsday Plane’ Spotted Flying In Texas

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 18, 2025

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has called into question the viability of using the C-130J Hercules cargo aircraft as the basis for a new plane, called the E-130J, to support the U.S. Navy's Take Charge And Move Out (TACAMO) mission.
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Choice Of C-130 For New Navy ‘Doomsday Plane’ Questioned In Watchdog Report

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Jun 12, 2025

The U.S. Navy has quietly awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to strip useful parts from an ex-Royal Air Force (RAF) E-3D Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft before disposing of it.
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Plan To Turn Ex-RAF E-3 AWACS Into E-6B ‘Doomsday’ Jet Trainer Abandoned By Navy

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jun 5, 2025

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth utilized a Silver Bullet Command and Control module on his first overseas trip.
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C-17’s ‘Silver Bullet’ Airstream Trailer Pod Used By Secretary Of Defense Hegseth On First Overseas Trip

By Howard Altman

Posted on Feb 12, 2025

Pictures have emerged of what looks to be the first known example of a new Chinese airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft based on the four-engine Y-20 cargo plane commonly referred to as the KJ-3000.

China’s New Domestically Developed Y-20 Airborne Early Warning Jet Spotted

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Dec 27, 2024

Navy’s Future E-130J TACAMO ‘Doomsday Plane’ Seen In New Rendering
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Navy’s Future E-130J TACAMO ‘Doomsday Plane’ Seen In New Rendering

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Dec 19, 2024

The Ohio class nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Tennessee, the Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Normandy, an E-6B Mercury 'doomsday plane,' and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft recently took part in an unusual show of force in the Norwegian Sea.
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U.S. Ballistic Missile Submarine, ‘Doomsday Plane’ Take Part In Rare Show Of Force Off Norway

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jun 25, 2024

Everything We Learned About The Next Doomsday Planes For The Air Force
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Everything We Learned About The Next Doomsday Planes For The Air Force

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on May 23, 2024

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), which won the contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s highly specialized Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) aircraft last month, has acquired five Boeing 747-8s from Korean Air. The likelihood is that these will be converted as the successors to the Air Force’s aging 747-200-based E-4B Nightwatch ‘doomsday planes,’ although at this stage we still don’t know how many of the new SAOC aircraft will be fielded.
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Former Korean Air 747s Slated To Become USAF Doomsday Planes (Updated)

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on May 9, 2024

SAOC will replace the E-4B, now we have a better idea of what it will look like.
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E-4B Doomsday Plane Replacement Concept Art Has Some Interesting Features

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Apr 29, 2024

SNC has won the competition to deliver new Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) 'doomsday planes' to succeed the Air Force's E-4B Nightwatch jets.
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Job Of Building The Air Force’s Next Doomsday Planes Falls To Sierra Nevada Corp. (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Apr 28, 2024

An Navy E-6B Mercury 'doomsday' plane was recently spotted with what appeared to be heavily-weathered exterior paintwork.
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E-6B ‘Doomsday Plane’ Looks Like It’s Been Through Armageddon

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 26, 2024

There are several reviews underway about the notification process surrounding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization and transfer of authority.

Glaring Questions Remain Over Defense Secretary Austin’s Transfer Of Authority

By Howard Altman

Posted on Jan 12, 2024

Boeing Exits Air Force’s ‘Doomsday Plane’ Competition (Updated)
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Boeing Exits Air Force’s ‘Doomsday Plane’ Competition (Updated)

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Dec 5, 2023

NORAD EADS

North American Airspace Defense Getting Cloud-Based Backbone Next Month

By Hope Hodge Seck

Posted on Sep 15, 2023