Active 1 July 1968 - present Role TACAMO | Branch United States Navy Garrison/HQ Tinker Air Force Base | |
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Country United States of America Type Fleet Air Reconnaissance | ||
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4 (VQ-4), nicknamed the Shadows, is a naval aviation squadron of the United States Navy based at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The squadron flies the Boeing E-6B Mercury airborne command post and communications relay aircraft. It is part of the U.S. Navy's TACAMO community, whose mission is to enable the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense to directly communicate with U.S. submarines, bombers, and missile silos during a nuclear war.
Operations
VQ-4 has a complement of 78 officers and 426 enlisted personnel. Since 1992, it has operated under Navy Strategic Communications Wing 1 at Tinker Air Force Base. It forward deploys aircraft to fly operational patrols out of NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.
From 1968, the squadron formerly operated the EC-130G, a specially modified electronics version of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft and was based at Patuxent River. It transitioned to the E-6A Hermes in 1991-92, and relocated to Tinker Air Force Base in 1992.