A U.S. Navy aircraft – ‘doomsday’, which was designed to survive a Nuclear Attack has been brought down by a Bird.
Doomsday brought down by a bird strike. A U.S. Navy Aircraft designed to withstand a Nuclear Attack was recently brought down by a bird strike. The E-6B Mercury aircraft struck an as-yet-unidentified bird, Tim Boulay, a spokesman for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, told Military.com.
The bird strike happened at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. The bird strike took Doomsday plane’s out one of the four engines. U.S. Navy declared it a “Class A mishap and it caused more than $2 million in damages.
The E-6B Mercury is to serve as an airborne command and communications platform for the U.S. Navy in the event of a nuclear war. Its systems are crafted to survive electromagnetic pulses from nuclear bombs detonating below it.
The Doomsday aircraft, brought down by a bird strike, uses low-frequency communication systems that allow the National Command Authority to communicate with the U.S. Navy’s nuclear missile force on ballistic missile submarines at sea.
This so-called ‘doomsday’ plane is equipped with an airborne launch control system that enables it to launch land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles.
This is the second incident of a Doomsday plane being brought down by a bird strike this year. In February, an E-6B Mercury snagged a hangar while being moved at the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported and the faulted engine has been replaced. The aircraft has returned to service now.
