Missile launch facility

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Topol-M launch from silo

A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs). Similar facilities can be used for anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs).

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The structures typically have the missile some distance below ground, protected by a large "blast door" on top. They are usually connected, physically and/or electronically, to a missile launch control center.

With the introduction of the Soviet UR-100 and the U.S. Titan II missile series, underground silos changed in the 1960s. Both missile series introduced the use of hypergolic propellant, which could be stored in the missiles, allowing for rapid launches. Both countries' liquid-fueled missile systems were moved into underground silos. The introduction of solid fuel systems, in the later 1960s, made the silo moving and launching even easier. [1]

The underground missile silo has remained the primary missile basing system and launch facility for land-based missiles since the 1960s. The increased accuracy of inertial guidance systems has rendered them somewhat more vulnerable than they were in the 1960s[ citation needed ].

Other than underground facilities, ballistic missiles can be launched from above-ground facilities, or can be launched from mobile platforms, e.g. transporter erector launchers, railcars, ballistic missile submarines or airplanes.

Nazi Germany

The La Coupole facility is the earliest known precursor to modern underground missile silos still in existence. It was built by the forces of Nazi Germany in northern Occupied France, between 1943 and 1944, to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets. The facility was designed with an immense concrete dome to store a large stockpile of V-2s, warheads and fuel, and was intended to launch V-2s on an industrial scale. Dozens of missiles a day were to be fuelled, prepared and rolled just outdoors of the facility's concrete casing, launched from either of two outdoor launch pads in rapid sequence against London and southern England. A similar-purpose but less-developed facility, the Blockhaus d'Eperlecques, had also been built, some 14.4 kilometers (8.9 miles) north-northwest of La Coupole, and closer to intended targets in southeastern England.

Following repeated heavy bombing by Allied forces during Operation Crossbow, the Germans were unable to complete construction of the works and the complex never entered service. The United Kingdom conducted post-war investigations, determining that it was "an assembly site for long projectiles most conveniently handled and prepared in a vertical position". [2]

United States

The British idea of an underground missile silo was adopted and developed by the United States for missile launch facilities for its intercontinental ballistic missiles. Most silos were based in Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Montana, Wyoming and other western states. There were three main reasons behind this siting: reducing the flight trajectory between the United States and the Soviet Union, since the missiles would travel north over Canada and the North Pole; increasing the flight trajectory from SLBMs on either seaboard, giving the silos more warning time in the event of a nuclear war; and locating obvious targets as far away as possible from major population centres. [3] They had many defense systems to keep out intruders and other defense systems to prevent destruction (see Safeguard Program). In addition to the three previously mentioned siting reasons, the US Air Force had other site requirements that were also taken into account such as, having the sites be close enough to a populace of roughly 50,000 people for community support along with making sure launch locations were far enough apart that a 10 MT detonation on or near strategic locations would not knock out other launch facilities in the area. [4] "In 1960 the US Army established the Corps of Engineers Ballistic Missile Construction Office (CEBMCO), an independent organization under the Chief of Engineers, to supervise construction". [4] This newly established organization was able to produce Minutemen Launch silos at an extremely fast rate of ~1.8 per day from 1961 to 1966 where they built a total of 1,000 Minuteman missile silos. [4]

The United States built many missile silos in the Midwest, away from populated areas. Many were built in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The U.S. spent considerable effort and funds in the 1970s and 1980s designing a replacement, but none of the new and complex system designs were ever produced.

The United States has many silo-based warheads in service, however, they have lowered their number to around 1800 and have transferred most of their missiles to nuclear submarines and are focusing on more advanced conventional weapons.

Today they are still used, although many have been decommissioned and hazardous materials removed. The increase of decommissioned missile silos has led governments to sell some of them to private individuals. Some buyers convert them into unique homes, advanced safe rooms, or use them for other purposes. They are popular sites of urban exploration.

Atlas facilities

The Atlas missiles used four different storage and launching methods.

In 2000 William Leonard Pickard and a partner were convicted, in the largest lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) manufacturing case in history, of conspiracy to manufacture large quantities of LSD in a decommissioned SM-65 Atlas missile silo (548-7) near Wamego, Kansas. [5]

Titan facilities

The Titan I missile used a similar silo basing of the fourth Atlas version.

LGM-25C Titan II (deactivated) ICBMs were in a one ICBM launch control center (LCC) with one LF configuration (1 × 1). Titan missiles (both I and II) were located near their command and control operations personnel. Access to the missile was through tunnels connecting the launch control center and launch facility. An example of this can be seen at the Titan Missile Museum, located south of Tucson, Arizona.

Notable accidents:

Minuteman facilities

Minuteman III launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, United States of America on 9 February 2023.

The solid fueled LGM-30 series Minuteman I, II, III, and Peacekeeper ICBM configurations consist of one LCC that controls ten LFs (1 × 10). Five LCCs and their fifty associated LFs make up a squadron. Three squadrons make up a wing. Measures were taken such that if any one LCC was disabled, a separate LCC within the squadron would take control of its ten ICBMs.

The LGM-30 LFs and LCCs are separated by several miles, connected only electronically. This distance ensures that a nuclear attack could only disable a very small number of ICBMs, leaving the rest capable of being launched immediately.

Peacekeeper facilities

Dense Pack was a proposed configuration strategy for basing LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBMs, developed under the Reagan administration, for the purpose of maximizing their survivability in case of a surprise nuclear first-strike on their silos conducted by a hostile foreign power. According to the Dense Pack strategy, a series of ten to twelve hardened silos would be grouped closely together in a line. The idea was that to disable the Dense Pack, the enemy would have to launch many missiles, and the missiles would arrive at different times. The missiles arriving later would have to pass through the debris cloud of the first missile's explosion, damaging the follow-up missiles and limiting their effectiveness. The proposed Dense Pack initiative met with strong criticism in the media and in the government, and the idea was never implemented. [6]

Soviet Union

The former Soviet Union had missile silos in Russia and adjacent Soviet states during the Cold War, such as the Plokštinė missile base in Lithuania. The Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning, near Solnechnogorsk outside Moscow, was completed by the Soviet Union in 1971, and remains in use by the Russian Federation.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom did not have any silo ICBMs. During the 1960s several surface based erector launcher pads for Thor IRBMs were installed but were removed just a few years later when Blue Steel carrying V bombers came into service.

Russia

Russia has silo-based weapons. The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF) (Strategic Missile Troops) controls Russia's land-based inter-continental ballistic missiles.

France

France built missile silos for S-2 and S-3 IRBM on the Albion Plateau. [7] They were in service from 1971 to 1996.

China

China has silo-based weapons, but is now concentrating development on expanding its submarine and road-capable mobile weapons, especially for tunnel networks. [8] Two silos fields appear to be under construction. [9]

India

India uses silos for a few of its long-range ballistic missile arsenal and storage, but most of its systems are road mobile capable.

Pakistan

Pakistan has built hard and deeply buried storage and launch facilities to retain a second strike capability in a nuclear war. [10]

North Korea

North Korea built a missile silo complex south of Paektu Mountain. The silos are reportedly designed for mid- to long-range missiles, but it is not clear if all of them are operational. [11]

Iran

Iran has silo-based weapons, having built a system of underground missile silos to protect missiles from detection and (above-ground) launch facilities from aerial destruction. [12] [13]

Israel

It is believed that Israel has MRBM and ICBM launch facilities.

Museums

See also

Related Research Articles

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An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi), primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The United States, Russia, China, France, India, the United Kingdom, Israel, and North Korea are the only countries known to have operational ICBMs. Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed state that does not possess ICBMs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First strike (nuclear strategy)</span> Preemptive attack using nuclear weapons

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGM-30 Minuteman</span> American ICBM, in service

The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. As of 2024, the LGM-30G is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and represents the land leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, along with the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vandenberg Space Force Base</span> United States Space Force Base near Los Angeles

Vandenberg Space Force Base, previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from the Western Range, and also performs missile testing. The United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 30 serves as the host delta for the base, equivalent to an Air Force air base wing. In addition to its military space launch mission, Vandenberg Space Force Base also hosts space launches for civil and commercial space entities, such as NASA and SpaceX.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGM-118 Peacekeeper</span> Intercontinental ballistic missile

The LGM-118 Peacekeeper, originally known as the MX for "Missile, Experimental", was a MIRV-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) produced and deployed by the United States from 1985 to 2005. The missile could carry up to twelve Mark 21 reentry vehicles, each armed with a 300-kiloton W87 warhead. Initial plans called for building and deploying 100 MX ICBMs, but budgetary concerns limited the final procurement; only 50 entered service. Disarmament treaties signed after the Peacekeeper's development led to its withdrawal from service in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan Missile Museum</span> NHL site in Pima County, Arizona

The Titan Missile Museum, also known as Air Force Facility Missile Site 8 or as Titan II ICBM Site 571-7, is a former ICBM site located about 40 km (25 mi) south of Tucson, Arizona in the United States. It was constructed in 1963 and deactivated in 1984. It is now a museum run by the nonprofit Arizona Aerospace Foundation and includes an inert Titan II missile in the silo, as well as the original launch facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RT-2</span> Intercontinental ballistic missile

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minuteman Missile National Historic Site</span> Historic site in South Dakota, USA

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missile launch control center</span> Control room (and its support facilities) for missile silos

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">90th Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peacekeeper Rail Garrison</span> United States Air Force railcar-launched ICBM

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis E. Warren Air Force Base</span> US Air Force base near Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">STRAT-X</span> U.S. government-sponsored study

STRAT-X, or Strategic-Experimental, was a U.S. government-sponsored study conducted during 1966 and 1967 that comprehensively analyzed the potential future of the U.S. nuclear deterrent force. At the time, the Soviet Union was making significant strides in nuclear weapons delivery, and also constructing anti-ballistic missile defenses to protect strategic facilities. To address a potential technological gap between the two superpowers, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara entrusted the classified STRAT-X study to the Institute for Defense Analyses, which compiled a twenty-volume report in nine months. The report looked into more than one hundred different weapons systems, ultimately resulting in the MGM-134 Midgetman and LGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Ohio-class submarines, and the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles, among others. Journalists have regarded STRAT-X as a major influence on the course of U.S. nuclear policy.

A Minuteman Mobility Test Train was a railway train which carried LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles for the United States Air Force. It tested Strategic Air Command's deployment of planned trains for launching the ICBMs. Moving the ICBMs by rail might reduce their vulnerability to Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces attack. At the time, the trains had the heaviest railroad cars used on regular rail routes, and rail sidings were surveyed during the trains' 1960 Operation Big Star

References

  1. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "Пуск Ракеты "ЯРС" РС-24 The launch of a Rocket "YARS" RS -24". YouTube . 12 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Sanders, Terence R. B. (1945). "Wizernes". Investigation of the "Heavy" Crossbow Installations in Northern France. Report by the Sanders Mission to the Chairman of the Crossbow Committee. III. Technical details.
  3. ↑ "Minuteman Missiles on the Great Plain" (web). National Park Service. April 6, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 Winkler, David F.; Lonnquest, John C. (November 1, 1996). "To Defend and Deter: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Missile Program". Archived from the original on April 17, 2019.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ↑ "Silo LSD". cjonline.com. September 2, 2001. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016.
  6. ↑ Ed Magnuson; Neil MacNeil (December 20, 1982). "Dense Pack Gets Blasted". Time . Archived from the original (web) on June 12, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
  7. ↑ "HISTOIRE DE MISSILES... LE 1er GMS DU PLATEAU D'ALBION". capcomespace.net. December 25, 2021.
  8. ↑ Chosun.com (14 Dec. 2009)
  9. ↑ Gan, Brad Lendon (28 July 2021). "China appears to be expanding its nuclear capabilities, US researchers say". CNN.
  10. ↑ "World | Pakistan enhances second strike N-capability: US report". Dawn. Pakistan. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  11. ↑ "North digs silos for missiles in Mt. Paektu area". JoongAng daily. 10 October 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  12. ↑ "Revealed: Iran's seven mountainside missile silos discovered in new satellite imagery". 6 May 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Iran fires Ballistic Missiles from Underground Silos". 8 March 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
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