United States ‘Doomsday Plane’ makes rare appearance as global tensions rise

A rare sighting

It goes without saying that the first 10 days of 2026 have been absolutely nuts, between Venezuela, Greenland, the war on 'shadow fleet' tankers and protests in Iran, we've really been given tickets to a blockbuster year.

However, as these tensions continue to grow, and US President Donald Trump continues to fan the flames, it's maybe less of a surprise to see the aptly named 'Doomsday Plane' making a little outing.

The modified Boeing 747, known officially as the Boeing E-4B Nightwatch, acts as the National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC) used as an airborne command post in the event of nuclear war, disaster or other large scale conflict that threatens key military and government infrastructure.

There are multiple planes in the 'doomsday fleet', with a modified Boeing 707 known as the Navy's 'Doomsday Plane' also flying, but less well-known than the iconic 747, of which there are four.

The planes have defences such as the ability to withstand electromagnetic pulses while the plane's crew is also trained to use traditional analogue flight instruments to navigate as they are less susceptible to cyberattack.

Now, attention has been raised after the plane was spotted making a landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Despite the fleet making regular flights, it is less common to see the aircraft at major airports such as LAX, reportedly being the first time it has landed there.

People quickly took to X to share theories and questioned what the plane was doing there.

One person said: "Things are tense during the beginning of 2026."

Another wrote: "That plane’s job is to survive the unsurvivable. Wild it’s just… here."

Meanwhile, another person commented rather tongue-in-cheek: "Is LA about to get nuked, should I leave?"

A U.S. Air Force description of the plane reads: "In case of national emergency or destruction of ground command and control centers, the aircraft provides a highly survivable command, control, and communications center to direct U.S. forces, execute emergency war orders, and coordinate actions by civil authorities."