Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix

Les Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix de mesure sur Wikipedia de langue anglaise

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The WC-135 Constant Phoenix is a special purpose aircraft derived from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and used by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Its mission is to collect samples from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for the purpose of detecting and identifying [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

It is also informally referred to as the "weather bird" or "the sniffer" by workers on the program.

Mission

The WC-135C and WC-135W Constant Phoenix atmospheric collection aircraft support national level consumers by collecting particulate debris and gaseous effluents from accessible regions of the atmosphere in support of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of 1963.

Features

The WC-135W (tail number 61-2667) is a modified C-135B.

The WC-135C (tail number 62-3582) is an extensively modified former [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aircraft.

The Constant Phoenix’s modifications are primarily related to the aircraft's on-board atmospheric collection suite, which allows the mission crew to detect radioactive debris "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 high-pressure holding spheres.

The interior seats 33 people, including the cockpit crew, maintenance personnel, and special equipment operators from the Air Force Technical Applications Center.

On operational sorties, the crew is minimized to just pilots, navigator, and special equipment operators, to reduce
radiation exposure to mission-essential personnel only.

The Constant Phoenix WC-135 aircraft serves as an aerial collection platform for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (AFTAC) at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Florida, supporting the detection and identification of debris from nuclear weapons detonations.

Two Constant Phoenix aircraft, a WC-135W (AF Serial Number 61-2667) and a WC-135C (AF Serial Number 62-3582) are
currently assigned to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Nebraska.

This mission was previously conducted by a WC-135W, AF Serial Number 61-2665, which was retired in September 1996.

Previously, as many as ten WC-135B weather reconnaissance airplanes flew in support of weather analysis, nuclear detection, and other scientific research.

Background

General [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] commissioned the Constant Phoenix program on September 16, 1947 when he charged the Army Air Forces with the overall responsibility for detecting atomic explosions anywhere in the world.

In September 1949, a WB-29 flying between Alaska and Japan detected nuclear debris from Russia’s first atomic test—an event not expected before the mid-1950s.

Beginning in August 1950, WB-50 aircraft were converted for the air-sampling mission over a two-year period.

WC-135 aircraft began replacing the WB-50s in December 1965 and became the workhorse of the atmospheric collection program.

Currently the air-sampling mission is tasked to support the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963, which prohibits any nation from testing nuclear weapons above ground.

The 45th Reconnaissance Squadron at Offutt AFB, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], works closely with AFTAC to verify if any illegal testing of nuclear weapons has occurred.

The WC-135C and WC-135W are currently the only aircraft in the inventory conducting air-sampling operations.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb.-- An WC-135W Constant Phoenix aircraft performs touch n go landing exercises throughout the Afternoon on the runway, Feb12.

The Constant Phoenix perfroms worlwide air sampling and is also used for limited nuclear test ban treaty
verification.

U.S. Air Force Photo by Josh Plueger

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Missions


Air sampling missions were routinely conducted over the Far East, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the Polar regions, and off the coasts of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Vela Incident


WC-135B aircraft flew 25 sorties in 1979 to try to ascertain if a double flash in the south Atlantic that was [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] by a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was a nuclear weapons test,^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]} however the result was inconclusive.

Chernobyl

Constant Phoenix was used in 1986 to measure radiation from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]’s [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The WC-135W played a major role in tracking radioactive debris.

The aircraft were designated as WC-135B at the time and two WC-135s (and two WC-130s) were used to track the Chernobyl reactor debris to assist in diverting air traffic from the debris clouds (one that flowed over northern Europe and one that flowed over southern Europe to the Meditteranean, then dispersed worldwide).

Pakistan & India

The Constant Phoenix aircraft was used to gather information on the nuclear tests conducted by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1998.

North Korea

In October 2002, the US WC-135W plane flew to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in Okinawa.

The plane was equipped with radioactivity detectors.

The plane was sent to check for possible nuclear weapons tests by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

As the Korean nuclear crisis escalated, US spy planes stepped up activities around the strategic Japanese island of Okinawa.

The WC-135W plane, which helps collect and identify debris from nuclear weapons detonations, returned to Okinawa's Kadena airbase on 4 February 2003.

On Friday 6 October 2006 Japan's [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] agency reported that a US military aircraft, equipped to detect
radiation from a nuclear test, took off from southern Japan.

This was believed to be part of US efforts to prepare to monitor a North Korean nuclear test.

On Monday 9 October 2006 North Korea's official [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (KCNA) reported that the country had performed a successful underground nuclear test.

On October 13, 2006 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] reported: "The U.S. Air Force flew a WC-135 Constant Phoenix atmospheric collection aircraft on Tuesday to collect air samples from the region.

A preliminary analysis of air samples from North Korea shows "radioactive debris consistent with a North Korea nuclear test," according to a statement from the office of the top U.S. intelligence official.

The statement, from the office of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], was sent to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] but not released publicly.

CNN obtained it from a congressional source.

The national intelligence office statement said the air samples were collected Wednesday, and analysis found debris that would be consistent with a nuclear test "in the vicinity of Punggye" on Monday.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] told CNN that the United States has informed it that radioactivity has been detected." The aircraft was based at Offutt AFB, and was sent to Kadena AB on Okinawa to operate during the sampling missions.

On June 17, 2009 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] reported, in reference to a purported May 25 nuclear test by North Korea: "The U.S. Air Force twice dispatched a special reconnaissance jet, the WC-135 Constant Phoenix from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to collect air samples."

On November 23, 2010 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] reported that a WC-135 had been moved to Kadena Air Base in September 2010, in anticipation of a North Korean nuclear test.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

Japan


On March 17, 2011 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] reported WC-135W had been deployed from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to assist in detecting radioactive materials in the atmosphere around Japan, monitoring radiation released from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] caused by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of March 11, 2011.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]} the aircraft have been assigned to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] temporarily.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien][Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Personnel from the 55th Aerospace Medicine Squadron and 55th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron report a "thumbs down," which indicates the WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft is above acceptable levels of contamination and needs be parked in an isolated location to be decontaminated.

This initial radiation survey was done every time the WC-135 landed after collecting air samples in international airspace over the Pacific as part of Operation Tomodachi.

(Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Boitz)

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EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- A WC-135 Constant Phoenix from the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron taxis in on the flightline here after a mission supporting Operation Tomodachi.

The WC-135 is an atmospheric collection aircraft that was tasked with collecting air samples in international airspace over the Pacific as part of the disaster relief effort in response to Japan?s March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The Constant Phoenix team was in Alaska for nearly six weeks.

(Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Boitz)

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EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- A WC-135 Constant Phoenix from the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron prepares to land after flying a mission supporting Operation Tomodachi. The WC-135 is an atmospheric collection aircraft that was tasked with collecting air samples in international airspace over the Pacific as part of the Defense Department s disaster
relief effort in response to Japan?s March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The Constant Phoenix team was in Alaska for nearly six weeks.

(Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Boitz)

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