United States Navy Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 Detachment (VQ-3)

 military, United States Navy

Built in the '50s for 5th Bomber Wing B-36 bombers and crews. It was later used by B-52Gs in the '60s, then KC-135s after the B-52s moved to Beale AFB in the late '60s. It is now used by the US Navy Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 (VQ-3).

TACAMO is fully integrated on three Air Force bases, including Travis, Tinker AFB, Okla., and Offutt AFB, Neb., as well as Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md., carrying out a national mission involving joint operations. The mission is to provide a survivable and reliable communications link between national decision makers and the country's arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons.

On a "beat-the-threat alert," the two Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft here enable the National Command Authority to relay orders through all phases of conflict to ballistic missile submarines, bombers and missile silos 24 hours a day to protect national security through nuclear deterrence.

Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Three Detachment (VQ-3 Det. Travis) and the Navy Computer and Telecommunications Strategic Communications Unit Detachment Fairfield combine to make up one of the Navy elements at Travis.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=en-qekZX4ws
www.tacamo.navy.mil/
www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/usa/2003/usa-03...