Boeing EC-135C “LOOKING GLASS”

The Boeing EC-135C “Looking Glass” was the backbone of air command post fleet of the USAF during the Cold War. Framed in the Strategic Air Command (SAC), flew 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on alert to a possible nuclear attack. They were distributed in several air bases both in the USA and in other allied countries, thus ensuring the American response of their nuclear forces and in the extreme case, the reconstruction and continuity of the US government. This uninterrupted “airborne alert state” lasted 29 years, until 1994. Later, they were on alert on land or in the air 24 hours a day until 1998, when they were relieved by the US Navy’s E-6B Mercury, which have taken over this mission.

EC-135C Looking Glass gallery and more info