"ICBM-Launched Satellite: Last Resort for Nuclear Code Transmission"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by The War Zone
During the Cold War, the U.S. developed the AN/DRC-8 Emergency Rocket Communications System (ERCS) as a backup plan for launching nuclear missiles in the event that land-based and airborne command and control systems were destroyed. The ERCS was an autonomous system that transmitted nuclear launch codes from suborbital space via rockets. It was initially launched using Blue Scout Junior rockets but later transitioned to Minuteman missiles. The ERCS became fully operational in the 1960s and was deactivated in 1991. The U.S. still retains the ability to remotely send launch orders to Minuteman III silos via the ALCS on the E-6B Mercury aircraft.