The U.S. Navy has officially designated its new “Take Charge and Move Out” (TACAMO) mission aircraft as the E-130J Phoenix II. This strategic communications aircraft is designed to maintain a critical link between national leadership and the nuclear triad, even in the event of a national emergency or nuclear conflict. The name, Phoenix II, is a symbolic nod to the mythical bird of rebirth and reflects the program’s return to the proven C-130 platform after decades of using a different airframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The E-130J, previously known by the placeholder designation E-XX, is built on the airframe of the Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules. It is being developed under the TACAMO Recapitalization Program to replace the aging E-6B Mercury fleet, which has been in service for more than 30 years. The E-6B Mercury, based on a Boeing 707 airframe, has served as a communications relay and airborne command post. The new E-130J will focus specifically on the TACAMO mission, ensuring survivable and reliable airborne nuclear command and control communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Northrop Grumman was awarded a multi-billion dollar contract to serve as the prime contractor for the E-130J program. The company is responsible for integrating advanced mission systems, including a Very Low Frequency (VLF) subsystem and specialized equipment, into the C-130J-30 airframes. These modifications are designed to harden the aircraft against the effects of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a nuclear blast and to operate in a contested environment. The program is part of a broader U.S. nuclear modernization effort, which includes the development of new submarines, bombers, and intercontinental ballistic missile systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The E-130J Phoenix II is expected to provide decades of service, ensuring the continuity of operations for the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Its popular name reflects a return to the roots of the TACAMO mission, which was first carried out on a C-130 variant, the EC-130Q, from 1963 to 1993. The new aircraft will be operated by the Strategic Communications Wing 1 (SCW-1), headquartered at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.S. Navy has officially designated its new “Take Charge and Move Out” (TACAMO) mission aircraft as the E-130J Phoenix II. This strategic communications aircraft is designed to maintain a critical link between national leadership and the nuclear triad, even in the event of a national…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148,"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morelinks.top\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}