ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the ALCS gave
E-6B crews the ability to launch the missiles
or change their target assignment.
The modiications were performed at
Waco in Texas, with battle staff positions
installed in place of the crew rest area –
which was relocated to the back of the
aircraft – comprising airborne emergency
actions officer (AEAO), airborne operations
officer (AOO), airborne launch control
officer (ALCO), two command and control
managers (CCM), logistics planners as
well as meteorological and oceanographic
support officers.
Following the modiications, the Mercury
became a command and control link
between the NCA and the US strategic
forces, which include manned bombers,
ICBM launch control centers (LCCs), and
the navy’s SLBM submarines. Delivery of
the irst upgraded E-6B took place at CTAS’s
Waco facility in December 1997.
NEW MISSION
The E-6B lew its irst ABNCP mission from
Offutt AFB on April 3, 1998 and formally
assumed the mission on October 1. The
USAF’s 55th Wing retired its last EC-135C
at the base on September 23, 1998. The
last E-6A, BuNo 164410, departed Tinker for
Waco on February 4, 2003.
In early 2002, Boeing completed the
prototype installation of a digital glass
cockpit in an E-6B. Based on the design of
the next-generation 737 cockpit, it replaced
the analogue instruments with six lat-panel
multifunction digital displays and dual-light
management systems, enabling the Mercury
to achieve compliance with Global Air Traffic
Management (GATM) requirements. Flight
testing of the irst upgraded aircraft began on
August 1, 2002 at Boeing’s Wichita, Kansas,
Maintenance and Modiication Center and it
arrived at NAS Patuxent River for testing on
January 8, 2003.
The irst E-6B arrived at the Boeing
Aerospace Support Center at Cecil Field,
Florida, in May that year to be itted
with the new cockpit and an advanced
communications package. The work was
completed when the 16th and the inal
upgraded E-6B was delivered on December
18, 2006.
The project provided additional data
processing capabilities plus improved
reliability and maintainability while
eliminating the need for a navigator.
Enhancement to the mission system
included the installation of demand-
assigned multiple-access (DAMA) radios
and a phased-array antenna system,
while two onboard servers interfacing with
a local-area network, plus onboard laptop
computers and Ku-band uplinks, were
also added. The HPTS and MILSTAR
satellite communications systems were
upgraded too.
The mods reduced the aircraft’s weight,
improved its maintainability and made it
compliant with updated GATM requirements.
In October 2006, the E-6B took on a new
tactical role when TF 124 Forward began
supporting Operations Iraqi and EnduringFreedom and Combined Joint Task Force –
Horn of Africa. Operating from Al Udeid Air
Base, Qatar, crews provided a comms link
with ground forces in areas where ground
radio communication was difficult.
The unit’s deployed E-6B was
equipped with the UHF joint airborne
communications suite (JACS), installed
specially for this mission. When the
detachment stood down in April 2009, it
had lown more than 690 sorties and 8,000-
plus hours in support of operations.BLOCK I
Rockwell Collins began development of
the type’s Block I programme in March
2004 with a $79.5m contract. This
corrected deiciencies discovered during
ABNCP Follow-on Test and Evaluation
(FOT&E), replaced obsolete equipment
such as the Very Low Frequency
Transmitter (VLF-TX) and updated the
HPTS subsystem.
It also provided the Mercury with an open
system architecture for mission avionics,
new MCS-10 computers, a voice over
internet protocol (VoIP) intercommunications
system and a multi-level secure networkhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 67
A US Navy E-6B on a lutter and loads test light from Edwards AFB in January 2017 after modiications were incorporated for the Multi-Role
Tactical Common Data Link. US DoD/US National Archives
The leet of E-6Bs is based at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. USAF/Marco Wright