From the article: "The US Navy’s imperturbable E-6 Mercury maintains the survivable and reliable communication links between the National Command Authority and the US nuclear forces in the event of full-blown nuclear war.
After nuclear weapons became a reality, E-6B Mercury evolved to serve its mission strictly as America’s absolute last line of defense in the face of nuclear war."
Now I'm even more intrigued.
Edit: the transponder is off now, but it was headed back towards Oklahoma.
From the Wiki for the plane it says, "This platform, now modified to the E-6B standard, conveys instructions from the National Command Authority to fleet ballistic missile submarines"
Maybe they were directing sub traffic for the alliance???
So maybe they were alerted to something and surveilling and listening closely.
Concerning the plane type: E-6B Mercury: America’s most lethal aircraft ever
From the article: "The US Navy’s imperturbable E-6 Mercury maintains the survivable and reliable communication links between the National Command Authority and the US nuclear forces in the event of full-blown nuclear war. After nuclear weapons became a reality, E-6B Mercury evolved to serve its mission strictly as America’s absolute last line of defense in the face of nuclear war."
Now I'm even more intrigued.
Edit: the transponder is off now, but it was headed back towards Oklahoma.
Sub? Hunt for Red October?
From the Wiki for the plane it says, "This platform, now modified to the E-6B standard, conveys instructions from the National Command Authority to fleet ballistic missile submarines"
Maybe they were directing sub traffic for the alliance???