The United States Air Force has put a Boeing WC-135R "Constant Phoenix (Nuclear-Sniffer) aircraft on patrol over the continental United States; specifically over South Dakota and Nebraska.
Using callsign TOPCT29, the aircraft is clearly operating in a search pattern from northwest South Dakota, to southeast Nebraska.
The WC-135 Constant Phoenix is a special-purpose aircraft derived from the Boeing C-135 Stratolifter and used by the United States Air Force. Its mission is to collect samples from the atmosphere for the purpose of detecting and identifying nuclear explosions. It is also informally referred to as the "weather bird" or "the sniffer" by workers on the program and international media respectively.
When asked why this particular aircraft seemed to be conducting a search pattern over the continental United States, the Pentagon replied "We have no comment."
