Vertex commences work on E-6B logistics task order
USN Boeing E-6B Mercury. (Photo: USAF/Greg L Davis)
Vertex provides contractor logistics support for US strategic airborne command post.
Vertex Aerospace announced on 20 April that it has begun work on an $881.98 million contractor logistics support (CLS) task order from US Naval Air Systems Command, for supply chain management of the E-6B Mercury airborne command post and Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) mission.
Work includes furnishing and delivering material required to support organisational and depot-level maintenance and aircraft modifications.
The contract performance period began on 1 February, and work is expected to be completed by 2027.
Vertex is executing the CLS task order at Offutt AFB, Nebraska; Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland; Tinker AFB, Oklahoma; and Travis AFB, California.
The E-6B is a modified E-6A equipped with an airborne launch control system capable of activating land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, notes Shephard Defence Insight.
It also functions as an airborne command post and communications relay for US submarine-launched ballistic missiles. For the TACAMO mission, the aircraft provides the survivable communications link to USN submarines.
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