Strategic Communications aircraft known as ‘TACAMO’ (“Take
Charge and Move Out”) contain radio equipment that allows the national
leadership to communicate with submerged ballistic missile submarines and other
nuclear defense forces. Present-day TACAMO aircraft also act as Airborne National
Command Posts for senior defense officials, and are
crucial components of the nation’s strategic command, control, and
communications capabilities.
As you’ll see on this page, NAS Patuxent River played a key role in testing early
TACAMO aircraft, and has continued supporting the development of TACAMO
capabilities to the present day. Pax
River has also housed the nation’s East Coast TACAMO contingent since 1964.
Updated 24 Jan 2024. The material herein, excluding images, is copyright the
author, Robert Tourville, and the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. Image
copyrights are as noted.
Sources:
On this page, the Dept of Navy’s ‘Allowances & Location of Navy Aircraft’
reports constitute the primary source for data pertaining to the timeframe in
which a specific aircraft type/model/series (TMS) was assigned to Pax
River. The following sources were also consulted:
- Fleet Air
Reconnaissance Squadron Four Yearbook, 1982 / 1983, US Navy
- ‘Lockheed C-130
Hercules and its Variants’, Reed, 1999
- 'The United
States Army in World War II, The Signal Corps: The Outcome', Thompson
& Harris, 1966
- 'A Compilation
of Historical Notes Regarding the Woodbridge Research Facility',
Waltmeyer, 1992
- Navy 'Naval Aircraft Listing by Model (INV-14)', 8/31/84 & 12/31/87
- Enterprise (St
Mary's County MD) articles - 'Plane Crash Lands', 20 Jan 1972; 'VQ-4
- Take Charge and Move Out', 12 Oct 1972; 'New Lockheed Aircraft for
VQ-4 Arrives at Pax River', 5 Feb 1976; 'What is VQ-4?', 15 Apr 1976
- Article -
'Streamlining the E-6A and P-3 Update IV', Naval Aviation News, Sep/Oct
1987
- Article -
'Navy's Touchy TACAMO Set on Nuclear War Wavelength', Arkansas Democrat, 1
Mar 1987
- Article –
‘C-130 Hercules Variant Briefing Part 1’, World Air Power Journal, Vol 6,
1991
- Article –
‘Lockheed C-130 Hercules’, World Air Power Journal, Vol 18, 1994
- Article –
‘Boeing E-6A Hermes’, World Air Power Journal, Vol 8 1992
- ‘United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911’, Naval Institute Press, 1982
- ‘United States
Naval Aviation 1910-1995’, Grossnick, ca. 1997
- ‘The
Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare’, Fitzsimons,
1979
- ‘Lockheed C-130
Hercules and its Variants’, Reed, 1999
- Article –
‘C-130 Hercules Variant Briefing Part 1’, World Air Power Journal, Vol 6,
1991
- Article –
‘Lockheed C-130 Hercules’, World Air Power Journal, Vol 18, 1994
- ‘Lockheed C-130
Hercules and its Variants’, Reed, 1999
- World Air Power
Journal articles – ‘Boeing E-6A Hermes - Take Charge and Move Out II’,
Spring 1992; "US Airborne Command & Control Systems', Spring 1999
- On-line articles:
- https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/Fleet-Air-Reconnaissance-Squadron-VQ-4/About-Us/; https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/Strategic-Communications-Wing-1/
- https://opacity.us/site31_nrl_satellite_facility.htm
- http://www.joebaugher.com/usattack/usnavyattack.html
- https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/
- http://www.forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/
- https://www.airvectors.net;
- U.S. Navy Aircraft History (thanlont.blogspot.com)
Ongoing research is attempting to identify all of
the aircraft tested at Pax River and to determine their testing
timeframes.
TACAMO’s Beginnings
The origin of the TACAMO mission and aircraft can be traced to the former
Naval Air Development Center (NADC - external link) in Warminster, PA which, in the early 1960s, managed a Very Low
Frequency (VLF - external link) communications project. That project’s name, “TACAMO”, was
derived from direction given by RADM Bernard F. Roeder, Director of Naval
Communications, to NADC’s LT Jerry O. Tuttle, who had been tasked with
developing an alternative means for communicating with fleet ballistic missile
submarines. RADM Roeder’s simple direction to LT Tuttle -- “Take Charge and
Move Out” -- generated the acronym TACAMO.
NADC’s TACAMO project gained importance with the October
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (external link), during which potential
shortcomings emerged in the shore-based VLF transmitters that were then the
President’s sole means for communicating with strategic missile submarines.
With a new sense of urgency, NADC flight-tested an airborne VLF system on a Lockheed
NC-121K (external link) aircraft, believed to
be the one shown below.
NADC NC-121K TACAMO test aircraft (photographer unknown)
The business end of the VLF system was a very long
trailing-wire antenna; the aircraft, in fact, carried as much as 5 miles of
antenna wire. To communicate with submerged submarines, a sufficient length of
this wire hung below the aircraft in a near-vertical orientation. NADC’s testing established the flight conditions under
which the so-called 'verticality' condition could safely be met, and also
resolved various other technical challenges.
Lockheed EC-130 TACAMO
NADC's testing culminated in 1963 with Pax River's Naval
Air Test Center (NATC) successfully evaluating a prototype TACAMO system housed
in a Lockheed
KC-130F Hercules (external link).
KC-130F from NATC’s Weapons Systems Test Division. Aircraft is modified with prototype TACAMO gear.
(Navy photo; ca. 1963)
Another
view of NATC's TACAMO-modified KC-130F, Addison,
TX (unknown photographer, 1963)
By late 1963, Pax River’s ‘Fleet Tactical Support Squadron
One’ (VR-1) established "Detachment T", a highly secure group specifically created to operate TACAMO-equipped Lockheed C-130Gs, which were later designated ‘EC-130Gs’ (external link). A TACAMO detachment was also established with squadron VR-21 at NAS Barbers Point, HI. At that time, the TACAMO systems were fitted into roll-on/roll-off vans that could be moved between aircraft or removed altogether as needed.
VR-1 Det T EC-130G (Navy photo)
The first EC-130G aircraft with a permanently-installed
TACAMO system was delivered to the Navy in 1968. In June of that year, VR-1 left Pax River
for NAS Norfolk. However, its TACAMO detachment remained at Pax River,
where it became a new unit, Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4, or VQ-4 (external
link). Similarly, VR-21’s TACAMO Detachment, which had earlier been moved from
Hawaii to NAS Agana, Guam, became squadron VQ-3. (VQ-3 would later
return to Hawaii.)
NATC supported EC-130G system upgrades through the 1970s and
into the mid-1980s.
EC-130G of NATC's ASW Directorate, 1978 (Stephen Miller photo, https://www.airhistory.net/photos/0305770.jpg)
Around 1976, an EC-130G assigned to NATC served as a testbed for the second generation TACAMO aircraft, the EC-130Q. By 1982, EC-130Qs had begun replacing EC-130Gs at VQ-4 and NATC.
VQ-4 EC-130Q (Navy photo)
By the mid-1970s, VQ-4’s EC-130Qs had established 100%
continuous airborne coverage within their defined areas of responsibility, with
each squadron rotating aircraft and crews through alert periods and deployed
around-the-clock.
EC-130Q test aircraft were operated by NATC into the late 1980s.
Boeing E-6 Mercury
E-6A in operational service (Navy photo)
In the early 1990s, the propeller-driven EC-130Q was
replaced by the jet-powered Boeing E-6A Mercury (external
link). First flown in 1987, E-6As were derived from the iconic Boeing 707. NATC began testing
the E-6A in May 1988, and VQ-4’s detachment at Pax River began operating E-6As the
next year.
The transition to E-6As from EC-130Qs marked the end of an
era. For almost a quarter century,
TACAMO crews in propeller-driven aircraft had found ways to accomplish their
mission despite the EC-130’s limited altitude, endurance, and creature
comforts.
VQ-4 E-6B (Navy photo)
The E-6’s advantages were many. Substantially
larger than the EC-130, E-6s afforded crews with a full galley,
eight rest bunks, and airliner-style sound-proofing and bathrooms. E-6s could also fly above troublesome weather and be refueled in–flight for
extended-duration missions.
Over the 1992-1995 timeframe, the entire TACAMO fleet was
consolidated at a single facility, Tinker AFB, OK (external link). VQ-3, VQ-4, and the newly-established training squadron VQ-7 moved to
Tinker AFB, forming a new TACAMO air wing called Strategic
Communications Wing One. VQ-3 and VQ-4 retained coastal alert detachments,
respectively, at Travis AFB, CA (external link) and Pax River, an arrangement that remains
in place today.
Currently in service is the E-6B version of the Mercury. The Naval Test Wing Atlantic (NTWL), NATC’s
successor, began testing E-6Bs in the late 1990s, and VQ-4 began E-6B operations
shortly thereafter.
With the E-6B, TACAMO crews added to their historical roles
a new function, that of Airborne National Command Post (ABNCP). Sometimes
called “Looking Glass” aircraft, the E-6B ABNCPs are ready to direct all of the
nation’s strategic nuclear forces in an emergency.
E-6B Mercury
Inside the E-6B, the airborne launch control system officer
and operations officer can transmit launch orders to bomber forces, underground
missile silos, and submarines, if the President so directs and if ground launch
control centers are disabled.
Operational Test and Evaluation of the E-6B was conducted at Pax River by VX-1.
|
Aircraft (external links)
|
Timeframe With NATC / NTWL
|
Timeframe With VQ-4 et al
|
|
Modified KC-130F
|
1963/64
|
(n/a)
|
1964 to early 1980s
|
Late 1963 to 1982
|
|
|
Mid-1976 to late 1980s
|
1982 to 1989
|
|
| TC-130G |
(n/a)
|
1987 |
|
May 1988 to late 1990s |
1989 to late 1990s
|
Late 1990s to present | Late 1990s to present |
(Dates in this table are approximate. Exact timeframes are being researched.)
Other Facets of Southern MD's Role in Strategic
Communications
The E-6Bs in Southern Maryland’s skies are some of the most
sensitive aircraft in America’s inventory. Their crews perform missions that
are both highly classified and critically important to national defense. But
Southern Maryland’s historical role as a center for strategic national
communications actually extends beyond TACAMO:
- From 1943 to 1969, the Army operated an important radio facility in La Plata, MD. Originally known as the ‘Department of the Army Receiving Station’, the La Plata site provided secure overseas communications during World War II for the War Department and White House.
- After the war, the La Plata facility was coupled with a transmitter in Woodbridge, VA, and eventually re-designated the ‘Eastern Radio Receiver Station’. In that role, the site became a key node in a global network that provided secure communications for the president, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, government agencies, and US military services around the world.
- Another piece to Southern Maryland’s role in strategic communications is the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Microwave Space Research Facility in Accokeek, MD. At that facility was a communications relay system designated ‘Compass Link’ that, between 1967 and 1973, transferred time-sensitive reconnaissance imagery from Vietnam to the White House for Presidents Johnson and Nixon. The NRL facility was located at former Nike missile site W45, which is discussed here.
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