Talk:Boeing E-4

Wrong pic?
The pic with the caption "An E-4B approaching a KC-10 Extender of Travis AFB in preparation for aerial refueling" does not show that at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:E448:D401:6C3B:7CFD:2A7F:A793 (talk) 08:24, 15 August 2019 (UTC)


 * We need a clue as the DoD think it is correct. MilborneOne (talk) 15:45, 15 August 2019 (UTC)
 * There's no reason for the caption to be incorrect (i.e. photo was taken from a KC-10 prior to the E-4 refuelling - but it's arguable if that level of detail adds anything to the article.Nigel Ish (talk) 20:42, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

Important difference of 31676
Looking at the pictures of the different Boeing E-4's shown on this article, I couldn't help but notice a major difference between the one with tail number 31676 and the other three. Tail number 31676 barely has any windows in its fuselage, wheres the other three have a normal amount of them. Is there any special reason for that? Does 31676 have a special construction/function/interior as opposed to the other three?Tvx1 22:06, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Role
I was wondering whether we should tell more about the function of this airplanes other than an airborne command center. They, or a least a number of them, are also use by senior figures of the US government, mostly those dealing with the US defense forces, other than the president and vice president travel abroad. For instance, the current United States Secretary of Defense has currently used a Boeing E-4 to travel to Europe (Germany and Belgium). This is how yesterday afternoon, when I had hastily made some pictures of what I assumed was a Boeing 747 shearing over my house, I was baffled to find out I had actually just photographed a Boeing E-4.Tvx1 22:19, 15 June 2023 (UTC)


 * What you described in the second sentence fits the airborne command center description. Further details are not public and likely classified. -Fnlayson (talk) 01:44, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Huh? How does transporting a senior military figure line the secretary of defense for international state visits fits being an airborne command center during emergencys? And this is not classified and very much public. I literally cited a public tweet from the secretary. Anyway, I noticed that there is a small sentence in the article about it being the secretary’s preferred means of international transportation. Tvx1 16:40, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I assume it's their preferred means of transportation because it's an airborne command center. Much of that is the ability to communicate securely with military assets, which is an important part of a SecDefs job. BilCat (talk) 19:17, 16 June 2023 (UTC)