Nobody’s getting nuked: Pentagon says ‘doomsday flights’ following Trump Covid-19 test were ‘pre-planned’ after Twitter hysteria
The Pentagon has clarified that two overnight ‘doomsday plane’ flights off the US’ east and west coasts were pre-planned and had no connection to Donald Trump testing positive for Covid-19, despite plenty of online speculation.
“These are preplanned flights and the timing is coincidental,” a US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) spokesperson told the Washington Times about the two E-6B Mercury planes, which took off roughly around the time Trump revealed his test results on Thursday night.
The aircraft are nicknamed “doomsday planes” since they are essentially mobile command posts for American nuclear-capable submarines.
Here's another E6-B that just popped up visible on MLAT on the west coast. IMO Stratcom wants them to be seen. pic.twitter.com/nvN03Rnnh9
— Tim Hogan (@TimInHonolulu) October 2, 2020
The planes were observed by Tim Hogan, an open-source intelligence practitioner who tracks such flights. He speculated about their potential meaning in rather dramatic fashion after Trump tweeted that he was being tested, but before he announced the positive results.
Responding to a commenter who asked about their significance, Hogan noted that the E-6B Mercury is “the plane that has the ability to order the killing of everyone on earth.” He also speculated that the flights were intended as a “message” to US adversaries in light of the president falling ill.
It's the plane that has the ability to order the killing of everyone on earth if someone attacks the US with nukes in a first strike. It can talk to our missile subs under water even if DC is gone.
— Tim Hogan (@TimInHonolulu) October 2, 2020
Other commenters joined Hogan in opining that the doomsday flights were indeed a “huge public flex to the world” and a warning that “everyone gets nuked” if an enemy attacks.
Two e-6b mercury planes are out off the coast of DC, completely unhidden on radar right now.These are the "Doomsday planes" which are able to command total warfare from the air.This is a huge public flex to the world right now saying "try anything and everyones getting nuked" lol pic.twitter.com/W4A2nNP8Xi
— CudaCores (@CudaCores) October 2, 2020
yeah I just read about the doomsday planes being airborne right before the announcement... I didn't even know that was a thing. I guess it's true.
— Rebecca (@beckystlouis) October 2, 2020
Not only did the US Department of Defense debunk these theories, they also fell apart in the context of other recent flight data. According to Christiaan Triebert, visual investigator for the New York Times, Boeing E-6B Mercury aircraft are regularly in the air – and were flying "almost daily" for the past month, rendering the spectre of impending nuclear annihilation somewhat unlikely for now.
And here's the flight data for that other E6A Mercury, #EA0415. It was publicly tracked on 18 out of the past 31 days. (That's 4 more days than I initially mentioned; I'm sleepy. H/t @Amstelsam and @BillDedman for making me properly fact-check these flights btw.) pic.twitter.com/MGgayGdDK4
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) October 2, 2020
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