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Originally posted by UK Alien Buff
looking glass was not actuly a Awac. it has a high ranking genral or admiral or genaral(air force) on it at all times. this is incase the president is incapitated or killed as is the VP.
EC-135
Through the years, the KC-135 has been altered to do other jobs ranging from flying command post missions to reconnaissance. The EC-135C was a USAF Strategic Air Command flying command post. One EC-135C, codenamed Looking Glass, was continually airborne throughout the Cold War, ready to control bombers and missiles if ground control was lost. RC-135 Rivet Joints are used for special reconnaissance and Air Force Material Command's NKC-135A's are flown in test programs. The Air Combat Command operates the OC-135 Open Skies as an observation platform in compliance with the Open Skies Treaty. In October 2006, WC-135W Constant Phoenix, based at Offutt AFB, was sent to Kadena AFB on Okinawa to detect any radioactive isotopes that would have resulted from nuclear testing by North Korea. [1]
Looking Glass
Looking Glass is a codename for the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command's Airborne Nuclear Command Post (ABNCP).
The United States' nuclear strategy depends on its ability to command, control, and communicate with its nuclear forces under all conditions. An essential element of that ability is Looking Glass; its crew and staff ensure there is always an aircraft ready to direct bombers and missiles from the air should ground-based command centers be destroyed or rendered inoperable. Looking Glass is intended to guarantee that U.S. strategic forces will act only in the manner dictated by the President of the United States. It took the nickname "Looking Glass" because the mission mirrored ground-based command, control, and communications.
The now-deactivated Strategic Air Command began the mission on February 3, 1961, using EC-135 aircraft. From that date, an Air Force Looking Glass aircraft was in the air at all times 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for almost 30 years. On October 1, 1998 the Navy's E-6 Mercury TACAMO replaced the EC-135 in the Looking Glass mission.
On July 24, 1990, Looking Glass ceased continuous airborne alert, but remained on ground or airborne alert 24 hours a day. During the continuous airborne alert period, crews accumulated more than 281,000 accident-free flying hours, an aviation phenomenon.
Looking Glass took a prominent role in the movie By Dawn's Early Light as the airborne mobile command. Actor James Earl Jones was the General in charge.
Mount Weather
It houses operations and training facilities above ground for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and contains an underground facility designed to house key components of the American government in the case of nuclear warfare or other calamity (1).