Visited the Titan Missile Complex today. This was an active Titan II missile silo complex from 1962 until 1982. This Titan II carried a single 8 Mt warhead (that is BIG). There were 54 complexes, and this is the only one not filled in with concrete.

This is the entrance to the missile complex.



Despite what you may think, the complexes were NOT hidden. They were considered to be a 'retaliatory' system, and they wanted the Soviets to know that they were there. They were designed to withstand a direct nuclear hit and still fire the missile. The crews consisted of four people on a 24 hour shift. All site systems had to be inspected every 12 hours. The sites had doppler radar intruder detections systems set up all over the place.

To gain access to the silo / control complex, the Commander had to go through four different checkpoint, two which involved specially coded responses.

Once the commander and team had been approved through the capture area, they had the final check. If this was good, the first blast door was opened. The damn thing is huge, designed to survive a direct hit and overpressure of 300 PSI.



There was a second blast door before moving into the complex proper.



Just inside was the Missile Control Complex and Launch Control Room. There were beds and a kitchen on different levels. All areas of the complex were "No Lone Zones", meaning that no-one was to be there by themselves - if you were, you were considered compromised until you could prove otherwise.

The only place where you could be alone was in the galley.

Here is the Launch Control room. The lady is sitting at the Commander's position. The Deputy Commander's position is in the background. The Commanders station controlled most things, but each station had a key to turn to verify a launch commit. The keys were separated so that no one person could turn both the keys at the same time (required for launch).



This is the Deputy's station:



This is the business end, the launch control and firing panel.



Surprisingly simple. Just some lights to tell you what is happening, and the launch keys.

Some may be wondering what is to stop two nutters launching the missile; good question.

The oxidiser valves on the missiles were coded. A correct code sequence had to be entered in order for the missile to launch, and the crew did not have this; it was ONLY given during a valid launch order.

The panel were it was to be entered can be seen behind the old fella.

This is the connecting tunnel between the Command complex and the Missile Silo itself.



It was designed to move, shift, etc, with a nuke attack. Every couple of feet there are huge shock absorbers. All the cables have slack built into them, all the lights are on springs, all equipment mounted on shock absorbers, etc.

The springs on the left of the tunnel picture are heavier than those on the right. The left carried cables of copper for comms, power, etc, whilst the right carried water and air.

Finally, a servicing platform around the missile.



The platforms were on various levels, and could be retracted. The dummies are shown wearing the protective suits that had to be worn in the silo to protect them from the fuel and gases (UDMH & Hydrazine straight).

Thanks for that Evan,
Where was the missile site? The computers look truly archaic, but most likely unbuggable because they were so 'primitive'. Do you know when the site was deactivated? I had no idea that missile sites were open to the public, usually things of no significance that relate to the cold war are not released at all.

John

The site is in Green Valley, Arizona, about 20 miles south of Tucson. It was deactivated in 1982, and there are public tours of the silo, the only one of the Titan II sites left.

The computers had to be rugged, but they didn't have to do a lot. One to confirm the oxidiser butterfly valve activation code, and the others to monitor the missile and silo systems.

Click to view attachment

The missile was pre-programmed (by special servicing personnel, not the regular crew) at regular intervals with three possible targets. On the launch panel, there were three buttons: Target 1 Target 2, and Target 3. The launch order simply said 1, 2, or 3. The crew didn't know where it was going.

Click to view attachment

Well worth seeing.

A good website that explains it all in more detail:

The Titan II ICBM Web Page.

very nice tour.... thank you!
DHealy