Russia is now fully prepared for a nuclear war with NATO with this state-of-the-art flying command center capable of maintaining full control over Russia’s armed forces in case of a global disaster or nuclear war.

Russia’s defense industry has completed a number of tests of the airborne strategic command center aboard an Ilyushin Il-80 aircraft, which will be used by Russia’s military on battlefields when there is no ground infrastructure in the area, and when communications from ground facilities have been disrupted, according to RT.

To this day, the United States was the only country in the world to possess a command center of this kind. The new generation flying command center is a modification of the Il-86 wide-body jet airliner, and is set to enter service in Russia’s military by the end of 2015, according to Russia’s United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation (UIMC).

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The Il-80 command center has significantly improved performance in terms of survivability, functionality and reliability, while the electronics on board have drastically reduced power consumption, according to the manufacturers, as reported by RT.

The flying command center, which has already been named a ‘doomsday plane’ by the Pentagon, carries senior generals, staff officers as well as a crew of technicians who look after the aircraft’s technical equipment.

Doomsday plane has full control over Russia’s armed forces

The flying command center, thanks to its technical capabilities, is capable of managing and distributing tasks to all units of Russia’s armed forces: ground forces, aerospace forces, Navy and strategic missile forces.

Moreover, NATO, in the event of a military confrontation against Russia, will struggle to destroy the airborne command center because its main advantage is its “invincibility,” according to Aleksandr Komyakov, director general of the production company that designed the command center.

“While [command] installations with known ground positions could be eliminated, an airborne command post is a target hard to disable because it shifts continuously. The Americans call this type of aircraft “doomsday planes,” Komyakov said in an interview with ITAR-TASS.

The doomsday plane’s main task is “establishing [communications] networks in extremely unfavorable circumstances, with ground infrastructure missing or destroyed,” according to Komyakov.

World War 3: Russia will destroy NATO – report

The news come as the tensions between NATO and Russia have dramatically escalated after an incident that has already been named the most dangerous military encounter between NATO and Russia’s forces in over 50 years.

Last Tuesday, Russia’s Su-24 jet was shot down by Turkey in Turkish airspace. The Turkish military claims it had issued 10 warnings in 5 minutes to the Russian jet, but it ignored all the warnings and the two F-16 jets were sent to destroy the warplane.

The Russian Defense Ministry insists its fighter jet never violated Turkish airspace, and was flying over the Syrian territory.

Turkey, which is seemingly protected by NATO’s 5th Article, which states that an attack on one Ally shall be considered an attack on all NATO members, could find itself all alone in an imminent war with Russia, according to analysts of Russia & India Report.

While in theory the U.S. and other NATO member states are treaty-bound to come to Turkey’s defense, the chances that the Americans would be willing to risk New York for Istanbul are “smaller than small,” the report noted.

Moreover, it should not be ruled out that the “hothead” NATO member state – Turkey – could attack Russia on its own, the report suggests.

“A nuclear exchange will undoubtedly have catastrophic consequences for both sides – and perhaps the entire planet – but there are certain factors that could skew the fighting field in Russia’s favour,” according to the report.

Americans won’t risk New York for Turkey

Russia currently possesses 1,643 deployed strategic warheads, while the U.S. has 1,642, according to data exchanged between Moscow and Washington on October 1, 2014.

Even though the difference is insignificant – only one warhead – Russia’s land-based strategic forces have the kind of explosive magnitude that is greater than anything among U.S. military’s hardware.

Russia’s SS-18, which is called ‘Satan’ by the Pentagon and NATO, is capable of destroying an area the size of the New York state. The missile carries 10 warheads, each having a force of 750 to 1000 kiloton, while some of these missiles have a single ‘secret’ 20,000 kiloton warhead. To get the idea, that’s 1333 times Hiroshima.

It was also noted in the report that “80 per cent of the American population resides on the eastern and western seaboards,” which means a few “well-aimed” nuclear missiles – such as the SS-18 – can end all human life in these densely populated coastal strips.

Russia, meanwhile, has a population only half of the United States and the people are dispersed widely across the country, which means human life in Russia can easily survive first and second nuclear strikes.

Russia can destroy New York with one nuclear strike – report

With Russian President Vladimir Putin warning NATO of “serious consequences” for shooting down the Russian fighter jet last Tuesday, analysts have every reason to believe that Moscow is willing to unleash a nuclear war over the incident.

Despite the fact that Turkey is backed by NATO’s 5th Article, it is highly unlikely NATO member states, including the U.S., are going to risk the lives of their troops and their military equipment to save Turkey, according to analysts of Russia & India Report.

That assumption alone means the chances that Putin is going to test NATO’s resolve and start a nuclear war over the incident are very “likely,” according to Pavel Felgengauer, Russia’s top defense analyst, as reported by ValueWalk last Wednesday.

And in case Putin starts a war with NATO, the only way the Russians could win a war against NATO is by going nuclear, Felgengauer noted.

“It is most likely that it will be war,” said Felgenhauer, as reported by ValueWalk, citing Mirror. “In other words, more fights will follow when Russian planes attack Turkish aircraft in order to protect our [Russia’s] bombers. It is possible that there will be fights between the Russian and Turkish navies at sea.”

Putin urged to start dropping nuclear bombs on NATO

In what appears to be alarming signs that Russia’s leadership is considering the possibility of responding to NATO militarily, Russian officials are urging Putin to take action.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic party and Russian presidential candidate in 2012, called on Putin to start dropping nuclear bombs on the Turkish capital of Istanbul, killing over nine million people.

“A nuclear attack can destroy Istanbul very easily. Just one nuclear bomb in the Istanbul Strait will wash the city away,” Zhirinovsky told Moscow Speaking Radio.

“It would be such a terrible flood, the water would rise to between 10m and 15m and the city would [flood],” Zhirinovsky continued and added, “And then there are nine million lives.”

The comments from one of Russia’s leading politicians come after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Russia not to “play with fire,” hinting at NATO’s 5th article.

In what appears to be a yet another alarming sign, it was reported by ValueWalk on Tuesday that Russia has already started handpicking nuclear-powered allies for imminent nuclear war with NATO. In particular, Moscow is seeking to build military ties with Pakistan and China.