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.

The acronym "TACAMO" stands for "TAke Charge And Move Out", supposedly the first operational directive given to the squadron at its inception.

The TACAMO mission began in 1961 as a test program to determine if an airborne Very Low Frequency (VLF) communications system was feasible.

"[2] [check quotation syntax] In order to avoid long lead-time delays, four U. S. Air Force C-130 aircraft were taken from the production line in early 1963.

The E-6B contains upgraded systems that enable it to perform the USSTRATCOM Airborne Command Post (ABNCP) "Looking Glass" mission.

At one point the squadron surpassed 42 years and 380,000 flight hours of Class A mishap-free operations.