<text id=00wf090b><title>War Fighting Roles: Command and Control</title>
<history>US Air Force: Briefing</history>
<article><hdr>War Fighting Roles—Command and Control</hdr><body>
<p>A small fleet of USAF aircraft has a command and control task. Boeing EC-135Cs are on charge to carry battle commanders aloft during times of tension or war, but this job was originally to continue the chain of command during a nuclear exchange. As such a conflict is deemed considerably less likely in the current climate, the alert status of the EC-135s has been eroded dramatically, and the EC-135s have picked up a conventional war role. Another control post asset is the EC-130E ABCCC version of the Hercules, which acts as an on-scene command post and radio relay for tactical aircraft over the battlefield.
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<p>Originally procured as a 'flying White House', the Boeing E-4B is based on the 747 airframe but is packed with communications equipment to allow the President and his battle staff to conduct war from the relative safety of the air. The equipment allows the E-4 to communicate with other command post aircraft and secure ground facilities, and even to broadcast to the nation through civilian networks. Known by the acronym NAOC (National Airborne Operations Center), the E-4 aircraft picked up a conventional tasking in 1994 to mirror the changes in global politics.
