E-6B Mercury ready to support Minuteman III launch
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An E-6B Mercury aircraft sits on the flightline here Monday, June 20, 2011. The E-6B is here to support the test launch of an unarmed operational Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile scheduled between 3:01 and 9:01 a.m. June 22 from north Vandenberg. The mission of the E-6B is to provide survivable, endurable, reliable airborne command, control and communications support of U.S. nuclear forces should ground-based control become inoperable. (U.S. Air Force photo/Jerry E. Clemens, Jr.)