{"id":216880,"date":"2026-03-12T19:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/216880\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T19:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:40:13","slug":"navys-doomsday-plane-performs-exercises-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/216880\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy\u2019s \u2018Doomsday plane\u2019 performs exercises in California"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mb2-plus4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9E503EA7-D572-4BE2-BB1C-22AB2AA98B7B.png\" alt=\"An airplane flies in a blue sky.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"default-font lh-default ma0 mh3 mt0 pb3\">\n\t\t\t\tThe U.S. Navy\u2019s \u201cDoomsday\u201d plane was spotted performing landing exercises at Fresno Yosemite International Airport in California on Sunday, March 8, 2026. (FOX26 News)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">(Tribune News Service) \u2014 The U.S. Navy\u2019s \u201cDoomsday\u201d plane was spotted performing landing exercises at Fresno Yosemite International Airport in California on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">The massive aircraft, a Boeing E-6B Mercury, can act as the president\u2019s emergency operations hub in times of national security threats, such as a nuclear war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navair.navy.mil\/product\/E-6B-Mercury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to the U.S. Navy.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">It is 150 feet long, was deployed in 1998 and cost $141.7 million. It can also launch intercontinental ballistic missiles bearing nuclear warheads, if needed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Aviation enthusiasts spotted the plane and took to Reddit to discuss its maneuverings. The overwhelming consensus was that such operations are relatively normal, but that the current state of world affairs \u2014 U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, with retaliatory strikes from Iran on Middle East neighbors \u2014 added some anxiety to an otherwise benign spotting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\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<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\u00a92026 Los Angeles Times. <\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/latimes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">latimes.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Distributed by <a href=\"https:\/\/tribunecontentagency.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tribune Content Agency, LLC<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. Navy\u2019s \u201cDoomsday\u201d plane was spotted performing landing exercises at Fresno Yosemite International Airport in California on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-216880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216880","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=216880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}