The US Has Four Doomsday Planes And The Government Doesn't Like Talking About Them

The doomsday plane is akin to a more advanced Air Force One. It's not merely a plane, but a strategically oriented military command center that can fly. The E-4B is an all-out warplane with a civilian wrapper. The massive $223 million plane is impervious to electromagnetic pulse, which is radiation released by an electric, radiated, or magnetic source. It has three levels and can weigh up to 800,000 pounds. The doomsday plane can reportedly reach speeds up to 602 mph, faster than a typical commercial aircraft.

The doomsday plane's equipment is so powerful that it needs an air-conditioning system to maintain a cool enough temperature to properly function. It also requires a trained team of tech analysts to troubleshoot the devices. The plane must have heavy-duty protection; its thermo-radiation shields can withstand the fallout from nuclear weapons and even asteroid strikes.

During an apocalyptic event, the president, joint chiefs of staff, and defense secretary would board an E-4B at a top-secret location and take off. A 112-person crew would accompany them, as it takes many people to manage the aircraft and keep the presidential party safe. Nightwatch, as the crew calls the plane, requires extensive labor to operate, which adds up in cost - about $159,529 per hour in flight.

The E-4B uses traditional analog flight instruments, which are less susceptible to damage from an electromagnetic pulse blast. In addition, it is far more difficult for hackers to infiltrate the old-school communication systems and equipment. The doomsday plane is known as a "National Airborne Operation Center" for good reason: It's designed to communicate with anyone - on any device - from anywhere in the world.

A doomsday plane is ready anywhere, anytime - in fact, one of them reportedly runs all the time. An aircraft from the secret fleet regularly travels with or in proximity to the president, especially on overseas trips. Another plane is on standby, with the engine running, 24/7 at the Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, NE.

On September 11, 2001, the same day as the terrorist attacks in New York City, an aircraft resembling an E-4B might have flown over the White House, as recorded by various news outlets and civilians. The US government has not confirmed why the plane might have deployed that day.

The existence of the doomsday airships is technically not top secret. However, the Air Force maintains a considerable veil of secrecy around these planes and has refused to discuss the aircraft with media outlets and the general public. The only publicly acknowledged doomsday plane is the one stationed in Nebraska at all times.

The flying giant can stay airborne for days at a time. During times of war, the crew can refuel the aircraft while it's mid-flight. The plane also has an emergency communication system when a successful landing proves too dangerous. The doomsday airship can communicate with submarines to transmit messages.

In 2006, Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that all four E-4Bs would retire by 2009, but only one retired in 2007. When the new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates took over, he brought the retired plane back into the fleet because "the planes have such unique capabilities." Reportedly, there is a plan to replace the planes with even more formidable versions, as two of the aircraft sustained damage from a tornado in June 2017.

The inside of the doomsday plane features old-fashioned overhead bins re-purposed from the original models. According to journalist David Rennie of The Economist, who toured the aircraft, the interior design is functional rather than fancy: It has a distinctly retro, late-Cold-War feel, from the secretary's padded-leather swivel seats, which would not shame a Bond villain, to the military-issue urinals bolted on the walls of the bathrooms (these drain straight into the sky, to avoid filling up the septic tanks on long flights).

Launched in 1961, Operation Looking Glass was the code name for a mission intended to create a covert airborne command center that could deploy American missiles during wartime. The Looking Glass planes got grounded in 1992, but the new flying war-rooms within the doomsday fleet can still carry out the mission's essential purpose. The National Interest claims "[the aircraft] maintain the communication link between the national command authority... and US nuclear forces, even if ground-based command centers are destroyed."