A fleet of America’s so-called “doomsday planes” was spotted flying across the US Tuesday — just hours after CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a rare, unannounced trip to Moscow.
At least four Boeing E-6B Mercury aircraft were tracked over the West Coast and central US, while a fifth was tentatively identified as another Mercury, according to public flight-tracking data that quickly drew the attention of military aviation enthusiasts. The unusual activity came as Ratcliffe traveled to the Russian capital aboard a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III.
The military transport was tracked flying into Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport before departing several hours later. Ratcliffe’s visit had not been announced beforehand and came amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow.
The Kremlin later confirmed the CIA director held talks with Russian intelligence officials, though he did not meet President Vladimir Putin. Against that backdrop, flight trackers began recording the E-6Bs at around 1:30 p.m. EST.
One aircraft, identified by the hex code AEA92D, was tracked over Colorado and Wyoming at roughly 24,000 feet and about 374 mph. Another, AE7D28, flew across Kansas and Oklahoma at approximately 30,000 feet, reaching around 471 mph.
A third, AEABAB, appeared over Missouri and Arkansas at about 35,000 feet and roughly 541 mph, while AF4019 was tracked near the Texas-Oklahoma border at around 9,500 feet and 307 mph. A fifth aircraft, AF1BB0, was also flagged as a possible E-6B, although its identification was not consistently confirmed.
The E-6B Mercury, known as “Take Charge And Move Out,” serves as a crucial communications link between US national command authorities and the Navy’s ballistic-missile submarines. These aircraft are designed to survive a nuclear attack and ensure that launch orders can still be transmitted to submerged submarines even if ground-based command centers are destroyed.
The latest activity follows several notable sightings this year. In March, an E-6B repeatedly circled California’s Central Valley near Fresno, spending nearly two hours conducting mock landing approaches at Fresno Yosemite International Airport, according to local reports.
In January, an Air Force E-4B Nightwatch — another aircraft dubbed a “doomsday plane” — landed at Los Angeles International Airport while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was in the region. An E-4B was also spotted circling near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska in April.
The timing of Tuesday’s E-6B flights relative to Ratcliffe’s Moscow trip immediately fueled speculation among military aviation trackers and online observers about whether the two events were connected. The Pentagon had not commented publicly on the aircraft movements as of Tuesday evening.
Ratcliffe’s secretive Moscow visit marks one of the highest-level US intelligence contacts with Russia in recent months, coming as the Trump administration pursues negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. The CIA director’s failure to secure a meeting with Putin himself suggests the Kremlin is maintaining a measured distance even as it engages with Washington at lower levels.
The E-6B fleet, operated by the Navy’s Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons, remains on continuous alert to provide survivable airborne command and control for the nation’s nuclear deterrent. Each aircraft can launch and control LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles through a trailing wire antenna system that communicates with submerged submarines at very low frequencies.