High Tech Military Aircraft Spotted Over Houston

 

I am a USAF veteran who still watches every aircraft fly over my house east of Houston, Texas. I have 2 paid Apps that I watch and within a week, I have observed 2 military aircraft I've never seen. I find this a bit disconcerting because the talk is there is a giant military build-up here in the US and surrounding waters/air space of our military. The first was an AWACS about a week ago and now a Boeing E-6 Mercury flown by the US Navy. I consulted with my aviation expert Gary Black, as he was an ATC and also ex-military.

    The Boeing E-6 Mercury (formerly E-6 Hermes) is an airborne command post and communications relay based on the Boeing 707. Codenamed Looking Glass, it is United States Strategic Command's (USSTRATCOM) Airborne Command Post (ABNCP), designed to take over in case the Global Operations Center (GOC), located at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is destroyed or incapable of communicating with strategic forces. The term "Looking Glass" is used because the ABNCP "mirrors" the abilities of the US Strategic Command GOC to control nuclear forces.

The E-6 fleet is based at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and operated by Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 (VQ-3), VQ-4, and VQ-7.