Is ''Looking Glass'' flying again?

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

The “Looking Glass” planes were supposedly grounded in the past ten-or-so years. Have they been reactivated, or are there plans to?

[Spud]

I was told by a very reliable source at Wright Pat that it was in the air on 9/11 (I was told this just after the initial attacks). Don’t know if it is still up or not though.

[Rillian]

From http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/ec-135.htm

A mark of America’s strategic excellence is its preeminent ability to command, control, and communicate with its nuclear forces. An essential element of that ability is the Airborne Command Post, also called “Looking Glass.”, which was retired from service on 01 October 1998. Its highly-trained crew and staff ensured there wass always an aircraft ready to direct bombers and missiles from the air should ground-based command centers become inoperable. Looking Glass guaranteed that U.S. strategic forces would act only in the precise manner dictated by the President.
The now-deactivated Strategic Air Command (SAC) began the mission on February 3, 1961. It took the nickname Looking Glass because the mission mirrored ground-based command, control, and communications. From that date, a Looking Glass aircraft was in the air at all times 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for more than 29 years. On July 24, 1990, Looking Glass ceased continuous airborne alert, but it remained on ground or airborne alert 24 hours a day. Crews accumulated more than 281,000 accident-free flying hours.

[Spud]

Excerpt From:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/n19980922_981443.html

On Sept. 25, (1998) the Air Force’s venerable EC-135 aircraft will hand over its Looking Glass mission of command, control, and communications of the nation’s strategic nuclear forces to the Navy’s E-6B “Take Charge and Move Out” aircraft.

The roots of this change extend back decades, to the height of the Cold War. In the early 1960s, the U.S. Navy deployed the first ballistic missile submarine fleet, establishing the submarine-launched ballistic missile as a key element of the nation’s nuclear triad, which also included Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles

Like the Air Force, the Navy also developed a method for maintaining constant control of their nuclear forces. The same year that EC-135s took on the Looking Glass mission, modified Marine Corps KC-130s (re-designated EC-130Qs) took on the mission of command and control of SSBN forces. The EC-130Qs were equipped with a very low-frequency radio transmitters contained in vans loaded aboard the aircraft… Despite force modernization and advances, both airframes displayed a high degree of reliability and remained essentially unchanged for decades.

The EC-130Qs maintained a similarly impressive record, but advances in submarine technology in the early 1980s dictated corresponding advances in the aging airframe. Between 1989 and 1992, 16 E-6A Mercury aircraft entered service to replace the EC-130Q. These new aircraft offered more than double the range and almost twice the speed of their predecessor.

The end of the Cold War saw other important changes. The EC-135 was taken off continuous airborne alert in 1990, although it remained on ground alert. In 1992, SAC was disestablished, and the command, control, and communications mission of all elements of the triad was placed under the newly-formed USSTRATCOM. Shortly thereafter, the secretary of defense directed the Air Force and Navy secretaries to begin consolidating the Looking Glass mission aboard TACAMO. The impetus for the change was the cost-savings generated by using one aircraft to do the job that had formerly been done by two.

[Rillian]

I was told by a very reliable source at Wright Pat that it was in the air on 9/11

Spud - perhaps your source was thinking of “Night Watch” plane (previously know as the “Doomsday Plane”).

From http://www.brook.edu/fp/projects/nucwcost/box3-3.htm

The National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC). A militarized Boeing E-4B (converted from a commercial 747-200) based at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and ready for take-off on 15 minutes’ notice, is available to the president and vice president for commanding nuclear forces from the air during a crisis. At least one aircraft (there are four in all) is always on alert with a full battle staff.

An interesting footnote can be found on that same Web page concening our favorite former VP.

Until 1983, this aircraft—then known as the National Emergency Airborne Command Post—was based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, a short helicopter ride from the White House. That year, in response to long-standing concerns about the vulnerability of the aircraft to an attack by Soviet SLBMs, the DOD assistant secretary responsible for C3I issues testified before Congress that NEACP would be moved inland to an undisclosed location where it could take off and rendezvous with the president, who would be evacuated from Washington by helicopter (maintained on alert at the Marine Corps Air Facility in Quantico, Virginia). The day after this testimony, Senator Dan Quayle (Republican of Indiana) surprised the DOD by issuing a press release announcing the stationing of NEACP at Grissom Air Force Base in Peru, Indiana (more than 50 miles [80.5 kilometers] north of Indianapolis). Quayle told reporters he had personally lobbied to have the aircraft transferred to Grissom to keep the base there open and to ensure that the surrounding community reaped the $4.6 million in extra spending generated by NEACP’s presence.

[Spud]

Nope it was Looking Glass.

He was contacted because he is frequently at the Pentagon and family were concerned. He was safe at home, and his response was something to the effect of… “I don’t know what’s going on, but both the President and Looking Glass are in the air right now.” This was just after Bush left Florida on Air Force One.