A ‘DOOMSDAY’ plane which was designed to survive nuclear blasts has been spotted flying over Europe amid mounting tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Boeing 747 named “Flying Pentagon” that dates back to the Cold War period, was seen flying over the English Channel after taking off from Washington.
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The Nightwatch aircraft was then seen circling over an area north of Cambridge and appeared to be heading towards RAF Mildenhall.
The design of the plane is meant to survive an electromagnetic pulse with all the systems left intact.
Triple-decker Doomsday planes even use traditional analogue flight instruments because they are less vulnerable to a cyber attack.
Its sole role is to support military analysts and strategists during a military crisis.
The aeroplanes, while not technically secret, are rarely mentioned – the Air Force does not even publicly acknowledge owning some of them.
The planes which have been in operation since the 1970s were long considered the best chance for a Cold War president to survive a nuclear attack.
They also include special gear like a five-mile-long trailing wire antenna that would ensure that the president could remain in contact with the nuclear submarine fleet even after ground-based communications had been destroyed.
It comes as fears of a nuclear war have escalated after the Russian leader put his nuclear forces on high alert.
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Russia’s defence ministry released images of a massive 46.5-ton weapon firing shells towards Kharkiv.
Russian deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy previously warned that Putin will use nuclear weapons if “provoked” by Nato.
“If Russia is provoked by NATO, if Russia is attacked by NATO, why not? We are a nuclear power,” he said.
It comes as:
Last week Russia released footage of its “Kinzhal” rocket destroying an ammunition depot in Ivano-Frankivsk in the west of Ukraine.
Earlier Russia had released chilling footage of its 7,000mph Zircon hypersonic nuke missile and branded it “unstoppable.”
The Russian dictator had previously warned that Moscow had stockpiled “unparalleled” hypersonic missiles.
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