Adaptive Relay Navy strategic communications aircraft transformed for tactical role over Iraq

摘要

A U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury strategic communications aircraft, a critical survivable link in the communications integrity of U.S. nuclear deterrent forces, has been deployed to the Persian Gulf region to serve as an airborne tactical communications relay for ground forces in Iraq.rnIn August, one of the Navy's 16 E-6Bs flew the aircraft's first missions over Iraq, inaugurating the tactical communications relay role for the aircraft, a derivative of the Boeing 707 airliner design. The aircraft, an asset of Commander Task Force 124, deployed with a detachment of 40 personnel from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., home of the Navy's Strategic Communications Wing One and its two E-6B squadrons, VQ-3 and VQ-4.