A specially designed aircraft to counter a nuclear attack recently collided with a bird during a maneuver, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
The US Mercury B-6B, originally a Boeing aircraft called Doomsday, is intended to run nuclear operations from the air in the event of a nuclear attack on the country.
According to the newspaper "New York Daily News", the incident occurred on October 2, when the giant aircraft "Boeing E-6 Mercury" of the US Navy, was maneuvering landing at Maryland Air Force Base, and a bird collided with one of the engines of the aircraft; Until the malfunction is fixed.
The landing was part of a ground-touching and non-stop flight training called the Touch and Go.
The accident necessitated replacing the engine with another humor, and then the aircraft returned to work after the crash, according to a spokesman for the US Naval Aircraft Department Tim Pulai, who said that an investigation has been opened.
Bulay described the incident as a "first class" incident, which resulted in damage of at least $ 2 million, but noted that none of the people on board had been harmed.
The aircraft, which was introduced by the Navy in 1998, is about $ 141 million and is about 45 meters long and about 19 meters high.
Mercury B-6B acts as an airborne command and control center in the event of a nuclear attack on US soil. It can carry military officers and civilian leaders during a nuclear war, and commanders can control US nuclear weapons on land, sea and air.
Despite these enormous capabilities, they are apparently not designed to counter bird attacks. According to official figures, there are about 3,000 attacks by wild birds against American military aircraft every year.