{"id":215815,"date":"2026-03-12T02:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T02:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/215815\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T02:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T02:20:18","slug":"doomsday-plane-performs-exercises-in-fresno-stoking-fears-as-war-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/215815\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Doomsday Plane&#8217; performs exercises in Fresno, stoking fears as war escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two months after a so-called Doomsday Plane caused a stir by <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-01-10\/doomsday-plane-appearance-at-lax-sparks-online-worry\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">landing at Los Angeles International Airport<\/a>, a similar plane sparked fear and speculation when it was spotted performing exercises at Fresno Yosemite International Airport on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Both massive aircraft can act as the president\u2019s emergency operations hub in times of national security threats, such as a nuclear war. <\/p>\n<p>Aviation enthusiasts spotted the latest plane and <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/aviation\/comments\/1rp91j9\/doomsday_plane_over_fresno\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">took to Reddit<\/a> to discuss its maneuverings. The overwhelming consensus was that such operations are relatively normal, but that the current state of world affairs \u2014 <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2026-03-08\/what-is-trumps-true-objective-in-iran-war-u-s-targets-provide-clue\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran<\/a>, with retaliatory strikes from Iran on Middle East neighbors \u2014 added some anxiety to an otherwise benign spotting.<\/p>\n<p>The plane \u201cprovides survivable, reliable and endurable airborne Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) for the president, secretary of defense and U.S. Strategic Command,\u201d per the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navair.navy.mil\/product\/E-6B-Mercury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">U.S. Navy<\/a>. It is 150 feet long, was deployed in 1998 and cost $141.7 million. And it can launch intercontinental ballistic missiles bearing nuclear warheads, if needed.<\/p>\n<p>The plane at LAX was the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.af.mil\/About-Us\/Fact-Sheets\/Display\/Article\/104503\/e-4b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Boeing E-4B Nightwatch<\/a> and carried Defense Secretary <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/Advisories\/Advisory\/Article\/4372372\/secretary-of-war-pete-hegseth-to-travel-to-los-angeles-california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> to Southern California as part of his monthlong \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour, while the plane near Fresno was a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navair.navy.mil\/product\/E-6B-Mercury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Boeing E-6B Mercury<\/a> apparently performing landing exercises. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is common for aircraft to conduct touch-and-go operations at Fresno Yosemite International Airport,\u201d said Vikkie Calderon, a spokesperson for the airport. \u201cIn addition to serving as a public-use airport, Fresno\u2019s geographical location, runway capabilities, and Instrument Landing Systems make it an optimal choice for a wide range of aircraft operations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two months after a so-called Doomsday Plane caused a stir by landing at Los Angeles International Airport, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[7271,73080,66264,10853,32890,33879,112,114,113,10987,19378,92287,6283,98886,2281,2664,98887],"class_list":{"0":"post-215815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-aircraft","9":"tag-arsenal","10":"tag-doomsday-plane","11":"tag-exercise","12":"tag-fear","13":"tag-freedom","14":"tag-fresno","15":"tag-fresno-headlines","16":"tag-fresno-news","17":"tag-fresno-yosemite-international-airport","18":"tag-iran","19":"tag-israeli-strike","20":"tag-president","21":"tag-such-operation","22":"tag-u-s","23":"tag-war","24":"tag-world-affair"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}