If you ever see this plane overhead, it may signal impending doom. The “doomsday plane” sounds like fiction, but global leaders have contingency plans for worst-case scenarios.
Known as the Boeing E-4 or National Airborne Operations Centre (NAOC), this aircraft is designed for nuclear war or catastrophe. Acting as a mobile war room for the U.S. President, it can fly for 12 hours at 600 mph, refuel mid-air, and stay airborne for a week.
Developed in the 1970s, the E-4 was built to ensure a Cold War president could survive a nuclear attack and retaliate. Russia has its own version, the “Flying Kremlin.”
Operating one costs $159,529 per hour. The plane is fortified against electromagnetic pulses and cyberattacks. The U.S. has four, with one always on standby.
Equipped with advanced communication systems, it can hold 112 people—though in a nuclear apocalypse, who would they be talking to?
