RAYTHEON E-SYSTEMS has delivered the first E-6B joint services command and control aircraft to the US military.
The TACAMO (Take Charge and Move Out) aircraft, an extensively modified Boeing 707, combines the functions of the US Air Force's EC-135C Airborne Command Post (ABNCP) and the US Navy's E-6A TACAMO.
The ABNCP fleet was used for command and control of strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles while the E-6A offered assured communications to ballistic-missile submarines. It was decided to integrate the two critical missions into a modified E-6B aircraft for greater efficiency.
Work on the E-6B was performed at Raytheon E-Systems' Waco, Texas, aircraft-modification site under an $82.3 million US Navy contract. It includes two options, worth $77 million, for follow-on fabrication, installation and testing of modification kits for four additional E-6Bs and two full mission trainers.
EC-135C-unique equipment was installed in the USN's E-6A including, the Airborne Launch Control System and ultra-high-frequency radios. The contract also called for extensive aerodynamic and structural analyses, systems engineering and airframe and avionics testing.
Source: Flight International
