#nuclear-command-and-control

#nuclear-command-and-control

One of just 16 specialized 'Doomsday planes,' Mercury serves as a command-and-control hub for US Strategic Command, the Secretary of War and the President. It can also transmit orders to carry out nuclear strikes if necessary. Flight data showed the aircraft departed Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and followed a routine southeast path over the Chesapeake Bay, skirting the Norfolk naval complex before heading offshore.