The first of three new WC-135R Constant Phoenix nuclear explosion sniffing aircraft landed at US Air Force’s Offutt air base on July 12.
Arriving at Lincoln Airport, the aircraft with tail number 14836 became the first new aircraft to join the Offutt fleet in decades.
This is the first of three WC-135R deliveries to the 55th Wing as the US Air Force is modifying three KC-135R Stratotankers to replace the aging aircraft.
The first of only two old WC-135Rs in the air force inventory retired over two years ago, departing Offutt one last time on November 16, 2020.
Originally delivered to the AF in 1964 and most recently flown by the New Hampshire Air National Guard, the new WC-135R was modified by Big Safari and will serve as the Air Force’s newest atmospheric collection aircraft supporting national and international partners.
Operated by the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron with support from Detachment 1, AF Technical Applications Center, it collects particulate and gaseous effluents and debris from accessible regions of the atmosphere in support of the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
The Constant Phoenix’s modifications are primarily related to its on-board atmospheric collection suite, which allows the mission crew to detect radioactive “clouds” in real time. The aircraft is equipped with external flow-through devices to collect particulates on filter paper and a compressor system for whole air samples collected in holding spheres.
