The US military’s new “doomsday plane” is actually modified from a transport aircraft! The first C-130J-30 airframe is delivered

The U.S. Navy received its first C-130J-30 "Super Hercules" transport aircraft in Georgia on October 15. This aircraft will be further modified into an E-130J "Phoenix II" strategic communications aircraft. In the future, it will replace the E-6B "Mercury" that has been in service for more than 30 years and be responsible for maintaining strategic communications between the U.S. military and underwater ballistic missile nuclear submarines.

The professional military media "The Aviationist" reported on the 16th that the delivery ceremony was held at the Lockheed Martin production facility in Marietta, Georgia. What was delivered this time was a basic airframe for the planned modification of the E-130J. The mission system still needs to be integrated in the future. It is not a new communication machine that has been modified and can perform missions.

The E-130J will perform the US military's TACAMO mission. TACAMO is the abbreviation of "Take Charge and Move Out" and is part of the U.S. Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) system. Its main task is to maintain communications between the U.S. President, Secretary of Defense and U.S. Strategic Command and the Navy's ballistic missile submarines. Even if ground command facilities are destroyed, this communication link must still be maintained.

Since radio signals cannot penetrate seawater, the TACAMO mission aircraft must use extremely low frequency (VLF) signals to transmit messages to underwater nuclear submarines through towed antennas. This capability allows the U.S. military to continuously deliver strategic instructions to maritime nuclear forces under specific circumstances.

According to "The Aviationist" report, after receiving the first airframe, the plan will enter the mission system integration phase, with Northrop Grumman leading the integration work, and Collins Aerospace (Collins Aerospace) will provide the extremely low frequency communication system. The new aircraft must complete relevant equipment integration and testing before it can have the capabilities required to perform the TACAMO mission.