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US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

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Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#71

Post by jasomill »

candiddevmike wrote: post #54
office_drone wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... had to go into ensuring that we could wipe out the human race in minutes. That was never ensured. Historical casualty projections expected that, in the event of large scale nuclear attacks, the majority of the involved countries' populations would survive not only the attack but the conditions afterward.

For how much afterwards though?

Indefinitely, even in the case of near-total destruction.

While not exactly historical fiction, this scene from Dr. Strangelove comes to mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#72

Post by rurp »

_boffin_ wrote: post #56
jabits wrote: post #45

This is a remarkably real view of the Minuteman Launch Control Center in the early to mid-80s for sure. The accompanying audio is realistic as well except all six comm systems would be blaring at once and several printers would be clacking away… It was very intense, demanding job. I was a Launch Control Officer for five years in the mid-80s out of FE Warren AFB in Cheyenne WY. My squadron was the 320th Strategic Miss…

Recommend any good non-fiction or even fiction books that talk about these experiences?

Command and Control by Schlosser is a great book about nuclear weapon strategy and policy during the cold war. Much of the book is about a disaster at a large ICBM silo. It's both fascinating and terrifying.

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#73

Post by swozey »

jabits wrote: post #42
swozey wrote: post #24

What's inside of the locked down door? Is that just the main door in? I'm assuming that hallway is the museum. And what is on the map with the circles? Is that a geographical map or some sort of system map? And what shock do the Shock Isolators stop? Shock from a launch?

The launch center you see is a square box about the size of an RV suspended by four large “shock absorbers” inside a hardened capsule with walls about six feet thick. The shock absorbers are so the launch center can sway in the event of a NuDet (nuclear detonation) near by. Unlike the older Titans, the Minuteman missiles were nowhere near the capsules, being a minimum of three miles away. Each capsule had direct comm…

Awesome info, thank you! 335 days underground.. Similar to Nukes in the Navy!

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#74

Post by pyuser583 »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #67
pyuser583 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The longer MAD works, the better I feel about it. We're at 77 of nuclear peace thanks to MAD. That's a pretty good record.

On the flip side, it's pretty hard for human systems to keep a nine nines success rate forever.

What’s the numerator and what’s the denominator?

Numerator is nuclear wars? Nuclear bombs dropped? People killed by nuclear bombs? Years with a nuclear bomb dropped?

Denominator is total wars? Number of bombs dropped? People killed in war? Years passed?

By some numerators and denominators, we’re well into 99.99999x territory.

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#75

Post by jabits »

dmd wrote: post #70
jabits wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve oftened wondered that over the years. Maybe that’s why the young ones are usually on the front lines. Another related possibly more difficult, is how many of us would have turned the key without prior world tensions occurring. Before each alert we received a pre-departure briefing on current world conditions. I think an out-of-the-blue order would have been very difficult… We periodically lost a crew member due…

Did you not have drills where you weren’t told it was a drill?

No we did not. We were heavily trained and frequently evaluated but never believing it was real in that sense. Things happen in the world for which increased level of readiness occurred, but as the fixed pillar of the Strategic Triad, we were always in a higher state of readiness.

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#76

Post by jabits »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #60
jabits wrote: post #45

This is a remarkably real view of the Minuteman Launch Control Center in the early to mid-80s for sure. The accompanying audio is realistic as well except all six comm systems would be blaring at once and several printers would be clacking away… It was very intense, demanding job. I was a Launch Control Officer for five years in the mid-80s out of FE Warren AFB in Cheyenne WY. My squadron was the 320th Strategic Miss…

Wow, I was there at the same time as a 46350. The Northern Tier was a (unappreciated) masterpiece of the Cold War.

I have to believe it was pretty stressful on your end too! One of the biggest pressures of the job was dealing with all the classified and the stuff you had to deal was the same I’m sure.

Hope you are well!

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#77

Post by jabits »

swozey wrote: post #24

What's inside of the locked down door? Is that just the main door in? I'm assuming that hallway is the museum. And what is on the map with the circles? Is that a geographical map or some sort of system map? And what shock do the Shock Isolators stop? Shock from a launch?

In answer to your first question, in the field that would be the primary blast door, a penetration that went through the capsule to a chamber with another larger blast door out to the elevator. At the other end of this chamber is the passage to the generator room. We were obviously equipped to go quite some time “off-grid”.

I am assuming the view is from one of the training simulators which are used exact, suspended control centers with a viewing window.

We had no maps in the capsule. Any targeting we did was normal 3-d coordinates, technically we really did not have a “need to know” where the coordinates were located.

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#78

Post by fblp »

aamoyg wrote: post #37
jf wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did it flood recently? I was there only a few months ago. I also checked the site and it looks like they are still giving tours?

They used to give tours that went to all levels of the silo (there are like 20+ levels) but the bottoms of the silos flood unless you run diesel pumps a lot. They said it was unlikely they would offer them again. Also Patrick Stewart touched the missile with his bare hands and fucked it up in his arrogance despite being told multiple times not to, apparently (the oils in your hand are corrosive to the alloy used for…

What's the story with Patrick Stewart touching the missile? Couldn't find anything about it on Google.

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#79

Post by Log_out_ »

jrockway wrote: post #55
the_snooze wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MAD makes sense if you assume the participants are rational and have accurate information. That's probably true on average in the long-run. But what bothers me is that it only takes one accident or miscalculation or crazy president to bring about the end of the world. And we've certainly had our fair share of close calls with bad sensor readings or training tapes being put into a live operational setting.

Yeah, I think MAD and "launch on warning" are distinct concepts. If we survive the first strike, we can rationally plan our second strike. So training tapes being played on the live system won't cause us to accidentally make a first strike; we can still assure destruction after taking a first strike. (That's why there's the nuclear triad.) I think that "launch on warning" was an official policy at some point. I am no…

Good argument for a defection retirement program to offer by the west. We bring your family to safety and grant your retirement in style, so you do not get MAD. Let's negotiate with terrorism quitters.

Re: US ICBM Launch Center Virtual Tour

#80

Post by swozey »

jabits wrote: post #77
swozey wrote: post #24

What's inside of the locked down door? Is that just the main door in? I'm assuming that hallway is the museum. And what is on the map with the circles? Is that a geographical map or some sort of system map? And what shock do the Shock Isolators stop? Shock from a launch?

In answer to your first question, in the field that would be the primary blast door, a penetration that went through the capsule to a chamber with another larger blast door out to the elevator. At the other end of this chamber is the passage to the generator room. We were obviously equipped to go quite some time “off-grid”. I am assuming the view is from one of the training simulators which are used exact, suspended…

Thanks! If you look to the left, from the hallway, then go to the very left corner and look right there's a paper map on the wall with circles all over it. Was curious what that was. In my absolute ignorance it looks like one of those "nukes will explode this far" sort of maps but I can't tell if it's actually a map of land or a system design thing.
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