TACAMO aircraft were the answer to a
tactical problem.
Communicating with
SSBNs (
missile submarines) is a difficult business, especially if you can't wait for a prearranged time for them to
surface or float a
radio buoy. In order to penetrate
seawater, radio needs to be in the
ELF or
VLF range. Sending ELF or VLF messages at long ranges requires enormous
antennae; the U.S. Navy maintains several facilities to send these messages which cover several acres each. As a consequence, they're also extremely
fragile. In the event of war, especially
nuclear war, there is good reason to believe that these facilities would be unavailable. Other landbased links would be vulnerable as well.
The U.S. Navy solved this problem by having a fleet of aircraft that, when alerted, would take off and begin orbiting previously defined positions over the United States. They would form an east-west chain designed to relay messages from the CONUS and Hawaii (and Looking Glass and its ilk) to the Atlantic fleet, especially the submarines.
TACAMO stands for, and I kid you not, TAke Charge And Move Out.