Missile launch facility

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SS-24 missile silo at Strategic missile forces museum in Ukraine.

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).

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

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]

  • 1944 conjectural reconstruction of the rocket preparation chamber and tunnels (on the assumption that A4 rockets were to be handled).
    1944 conjectural reconstruction of the rocket preparation chamber and tunnels (on the assumption that A4 rockets were to be handled).
  • Impression of a V2 in the assembly hall at Éperleques.
    Impression of a V2 in the assembly hall at Éperleques.

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

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.

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

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]

  • Titan I missile complex.
    Titan I missile complex.
  • Titan I missile complex 2A.
    Titan I missile complex 2A.
  • Titan II ICBM in 571-7 site silo.
    Titan II ICBM in 571-7 site silo.
  • Titan-II ICBM silo test launch, Vandenberg Air Force Base.
    Titan-II ICBM silo test launch, Vandenberg Air Force Base.
  • Minuteman I test silos at Edwards AFB.
    Minuteman I test silos at Edwards AFB.
  • U.S. Minuteman II missile being worked on, in its underground silo launch facility.
    U.S.
    Minuteman II
    missile being worked on, in its underground silo launch facility.
  • U.S. Peacekeeper MX missile launches from its underground silo launch facility.
    U.S.
    Peacekeeper MX
    missile launches from its underground silo launch facility.
  • Minuteman III ICBM Launch Control Facility November-1.
    Minuteman III ICBM Launch Control Facility November-1.
  • A Minuteman-III missile in its silo.
    A Minuteman-III missile in its silo.

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.

  • RT-23/SS-24 Molodets ICBM silo near Pervomaysk Ukraine.
    RT-23/SS-24 Molodets ICBM silo near Pervomaysk Ukraine.
  • Plokštinė R-12 Dvina MRBM base.
    Plokštinė R-12 Dvina MRBM base.
  • R-36 missile being lowered into a missile silo.
    R-36 missile being lowered into a missile silo.


Great Britain

Great Britain did not have any silo ICBMs. During the 1960's 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.

  • Loading ICBM Topol-M into the launch silo.
    Loading ICBM Topol-M into the launch silo.

France

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

  • Missile silo cover at Sirene Observatory, Plateau d'Albion.
    Missile silo cover at Sirene Observatory, Plateau d'Albion.

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

References

  1. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Пуск Ракеты "ЯРС" РС-24 The launch of a Rocket "YARS" RS -24". YouTube.
  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. ^ a b c 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.