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Looking Glass (or Operation Looking Glass) is the code name for an airborne command center currently operated by the U.S. Navy. It provides command and control of U.S. nuclear forces in the event that ground-based command centers are destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable. The Looking Glass was initiated by the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command in 1961 and operated by the 2nd Airborne Command and Control Squadron(ACCS) (aka, “The 2nd Axe”).

The airborne command post is referred to as Looking Glass because its mission mirrors ground-based command, control, and communications located at the USSTRATCOM Global Operations Center (GOC) at Offutt Air Force Base. It has also been called the “Doomsday Plane,” since its role would only be necessary in the event that the ground nuclear command centers at Offutt, the National Military Command Center, and Site R are destroyed. The Looking Glass is equipped with the Airborne Launch Control System, capable of transmitting launch commands to US ground-based ICBMs in the event that the ground launch control centers are rendered inoperable. At DEFCON 2 or higher, the Looking Glass pilot and co-pilot were both required to wear an eye patch, retrieved from their Emergency War Order (EWO) kit. In the event of a surprise blinding flash from a nuclear detonation, the eye patch would prevent blindness in the covered eye, thus enabling them to see in at least one eye and continue flying. Later in history, the eye patch was replaced by goggles that would instantaneously turn opaque when exposed to a nuclear flash, then rapidly clear for normal vision.