The Survivability
On March 31, 2026, a 21-year-old aeronautical engineering student named Tianrui Liang drove to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and photographed the E-4B Nightwatch aircraft from a public road bordering the base's eastern perimeter. He had found this road using a website maintained by aircraft enthusiasts who photograph military planes as a hobby.
(There are websites for this. The websites include optimal photography locations at major military installations. This information is publicly available. I am not making this up.)
The E-4B Nightwatch is the United States military's Doomsday Plane. This is not a nickname the Air Force endorses but it is the one everyone uses because it is accurate. The aircraft is specifically designed to survive nuclear war. Its wiring is shielded against electromagnetic pulse. It carries systems that can function after a nuclear detonation. It trails a wire antenna five miles long that can communicate with nuclear submarines through the electromagnetic static of a global catastrophe. There are four of them. Each flight hour costs $160,000. The plane exists for the specific scenario in which civilization has largely ended and someone needs to be able to give orders.
On March 31, someone gave orders from a planespotter website.
The base had a fence. The base had signs explicitly prohibiting photography of military aircraft. Liang was on a public road outside the fence. He had a camera with a telescopic lens. He photographed the E-4B. He also photographed RC-135 surveillance aircraft while he was there. He then drove to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and photographed B-1B Lancer strategic bombers. He was arrested at JFK Airport on April 7 while attempting to board an international flight. The federal affidavit does not allege he was working for any foreign government.
(He told investigators he wanted the photographs for his personal collection. He acknowledged he knew photography was prohibited. The aircraft he photographed can command nuclear weapons. His explanation was: he collects aircraft photographs.)
The E-4B's survivability specifications cover electromagnetic pulse, thermal effects, and the communication requirements of nuclear conflict. The specifications were written by people who thought about survivability very carefully.
The road was not in the specifications.