Little EMI/ EMP in the News today

[gunDriller]

"All of the on-board equipment is hardened against nuclear effects, including the cockpit windows which are covered with mesh similar to that on your microwave oven. "


http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2015/01/13/a-doomsday-plane-reminder-nuclear-weapons-havent-gone-away/


"One of the four doomsday planes is kept on continuous alert and manned at all times. The planes are designed to stay airborne as long as a week with aerial refueling. All of the on-board equipment is hardened against nuclear effects, including the cockpit windows which are covered with mesh similar to that on your microwave oven. If called into service because of a nuclear crisis, the heavily modified Boeing 747s could each carry a crew of over a hundred specialists for managing the conflict, with communications transmitted through satellite uplinks and a wire antenna trailing five miles behind the plane. If the president and defense secretary have been killed, there are plans in place for devolving command to the most senior official still available.

U.S. military planners take this threat so seriously that when the president goes overseas, one of the doomsday planes always follows. It needs to be nearby at all times, as does the military aide within a few yards of the president carrying nuclear launch codes and communications gear. Similar provisions have been made in Russia, which maintains most of its intercontinental ballistic missiles on a high state of alert for fear of losing them in an American first strike."

[Neuro]

Thank god the president is a stable person and not a whimsical narcissist, who may get the idea to punish the world, if it ever got the idea to turn against him...

[Ponce]

To me this is like if there is really a EMP, I do have two tubes radios.........but.....is there a radio station that will have tube transmitters?.....will that plane talk only to the presidents plane....sure, they will able to talk to some on the ground but to me that they all will be inside of a big bubble.

V

[chad]

my college roommate (now a top gun fighter pilot) flew one of those for awhile. his dad was a vice admiral in the navy. he knew me quite well and pulled some strings to get me in to see the plane. following a 2 day security background check & interrogation by some intel guys, i was allowed a private tour by him and his commanding officer at kelly air force base. it was painted pure white with no marking on it at all, none, not even a callsign or american flag on it. it was basically a plane full of rows of computer terminals. i didn't get to go in to the underneath section that would normally be a baggage area, but i was told it was all back up computers of what was on the main level. i also got to see the safe in the cockpit (they didn't open it of course) that held those little nuclear authentication manuals and cards. during the whole thing, i was accompanied by a guy with a sidearm who was to "shoot me" if anything happened. it was pretty cool. another odd thing i never quite understood, there were no ramps, ladders, or steps to get in to it. you had to stand on a little platform and hoist yourself in. that was the only weird part.

[midnight rambler]

another odd thing i never quite understood, there were no ramps, ladders, or steps to get in to it. you had to stand on a little platform and hoist yourself in. that was the only weird part.

I bet there is and they just didn't allow you to see that. There's no way an aircraft like that doesn't have at least one of its own self-contained egress for crew, e.g. a ladder or stairway that drops down out of a hatch.

Two versions of self-contained ladders on the Su-34 -

http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_su-34_files/su-34%20005.jpg

http://legion.wplus.net/guide/air/s/su34-17.jpg

[chad]

yeah, maybe it did and i just didn't see it. i was quite surprised i was allowed on it, but i suppose being the friend of a vice admiral and the pilot helped. it was pretty cool. not sure what type of computers they were, they were all unmarked but looked like old school vax terminals or something. also, when i walked out to it, they had these little yellow lines painted on the ground that i had to walk on, and i was told if i got more than a few feet away from the line, i would "get shot." they were big on letting you know you get "get shot." i guess they thought maybe you would run away and try to blow yourself or something, but i had to go through this whole body search to even get on the runway, so not sure what they thought you were going to do...

[midnight rambler]

i just didn't see it.

Right. That's classified info. I'm quite sure if you discovered it you'd "get shot". lol

[chad]

in hindsight, now, some many years later, they were probably just messing with me, but as a 22 year old kid, i was scared shitless they were going to off me if i messed up.

[old steel]

Chad did you have to surrender your personal sidearm to get the tour?

[chad]

Chad did you have to surrender your personal sidearm to get the tour?

no, i kept in my pants the whole time in case there were some hot computer terminal ladies on the plane. ;D

[midnight rambler]

Right. That's classified info. I'm quite sure if you discovered it you'd "get shot". lol

You may think I'm kidding. I'm not. They distracted you with nonsense 'cause the egress* to that plane is surely classified and strictly on a need to know basis.

*it could have very likely been that IF you entered the plane the same way the plane's crew does you'd have seen something along the way that they didn't want you to see, which could have included exactly where the point and means of egress is - I'm quite certain that aircraft has its own self-contained egress, why would it not?

[chad]

You may think I'm kidding. I'm not. They distracted you with nonsense 'cause the egress* to that plane is surely classified and strictly on a need to know basis.

*it could have very likely been that IF you entered the plane the same way the plane's crew does you'd have seen something along the way that they didn't want you to see, which could have included exactly where the point of egress is

huh, never, ever, ever, considered that angle. it was one of the cooler things i have ever seen/got to experience. i'm sure hardly anybody gets to do that sort of thing unless they're actually .mil

[midnight rambler]

huh, never, ever, ever, considered that angle. it was one of the cooler things i have ever seen/got to experience. i'm sure hardly anybody gets to do that sort of thing unless they're actually .mil

Definitely a cool story. No doubt you're only one of a very select few dozens or hundreds of 'civilians' who've seen the inside.


never, ever, ever, considered that angle.

"What you see is what you get." You were in awe and your mind was blown - why would you think anything other than what they exposed you to? They knew that when you related the story to anyone that you'd say, "The plane has no means of boarding it, you have to hoist yourself off this little platform. It's like nearly impossible to get onto!"...rather than relating, "The hatch with the self-contained ladder is located just in front of the port wing." They don't want info like that floating around out there.