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For example:

The robot had a _______ plan so it wouldn't get lost if the radio went down.

In case of ______, the nuclear submarine required all 3 officers to unanimously agree to launch the missile.

It's important to distinguish it from losing communication briefly, the time aspect is critical.

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  • There is the term "dead air" used in broadcasting and a few other specialties, but it usually refers to outages on the order of 30 seconds, not hours or days. – Hot Licks Dec 2 '16 at 22:04
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    Do you have any reason to show that such a word exists? How does this request differ from any other sort of request for writing help? – tchrist♦ Dec 2 '16 at 22:10
  • The two examples are quite different, even ignoring that the first asks for an adjective and the second a noun. "The robot had a contingency plan....." works for the first example no matter the length of loss of contact. As for the second example, let's hope we are not one word away from WWIII. – ab2 Dec 2 '16 at 22:16
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    If the robot switches to another system to keep operating: failover plan, back-up plan. In the event of a communications blackout (when all comms go down) or communications outage. – Lambie Dec 2 '16 at 22:48
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    "Communication outage" is a reasonably common term. – Hot Licks Dec 2 '16 at 22:48
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The robot had a loss of contact plan so it wouldn't get lost if the radio went down.

In case of contact loss the nuclear sub ...

lose contact with someone or something and lose touch with someone or something.
[for communication with someone or a group] to fail or fade away;
to let one's friendship or relationship with someone or a group lapse.
I hope I don't lose contact with you. I don't want to lose touch with my old friends.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

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