Titan Missile: Stop #2 of 4

We all remember fire drills in school, right? In the Midwest we had tornado drills. Other areas of the country, earthquake drills. And, if you were in school in the 1950s, 60s and even 70s, there were bomb drills. Schools and many businesses had designated bomb shelters where we would huddle together in sheer terror, waiting for the annihilating bomb to strike. 

In the very late 1950s, the newest nuclear missile was in the initial stages of design. The Titan II was

built, tested, and three missile sites built and readied by 1963. The manufacture-to-implementation was done in three years. Amazing! Fifty-four Titan II missiles were activated, in groups of 18 missile silos, located at three sites: Arizona, Arkansas and Kansas. These missile locations were in service until 1987, or over 24 years. The initial expected timeline was for 10 years of service. Guess they served their purpose? Fortunately, no missiles were launched; although, there are reports of a near catastrophe. Documents were declassified around 2012-15 verifying the 1983 War Scare, which occurred in early November of that year. News to me. Between family and work, we were oblivious to news of anything out-of-the-ordinary happening at that time. 

Our tour guide, Dave, was an active serviceman at this site for many years. He was extremely knowledgeable and articulate with all the intricate details, now declassified. The tour took about 45 minutes. We were riveted as he took us through how the crew lived and worked underground. We visited many of the locations on this Interactive Map. 

As Dave pointed out, the missiles were a meant to prevent war. The theory: If the enemy knows you will strike back strong causing more damage than they inflict, they will be hesitant to strike first. The Titan II missiles carried a nuclear warhead equivalent to 9 million pounds of dynamite. Compare to the WWII bomb dropped in Japan with a warhead equivalent to 2.5 million pounds of dynamite. Titan II was 87% effective in striking within one mile of a target thousands of miles away. The accuracy was the over-riding advantage. The Russian missile had a warhead equivalent to 200 million pounds of dynamite, but their accuracy was under ten percent.

The incredible procedures the people went through just to enter the complex to do their jobs. The construction safeguards built into the physical facilities: the four feet thick concrete and steel walls, the floors suspended on huge springs to withstand the intense jolts caused by bombs launching or striking. The precision of the clock set to the exact second of the atomic clock in Colorado, manually synchronized multiple times a day. The speakers that would squawk with an alert of bombs, either incoming or to launch. That sound, per our guide, would "have us jumping out of our skin in sheer terror."

Two kids in our tour took the desk positions used by the ranking officers of the four-man crew. Dave took us through the duties of all four crew members, including his position of maintaining all the technical instrumentation. Interesting since this was prior to the computer era. He walked the "acting-officers" through the sequence of hearing the squawk command, to verifying the nuclear codes, explaining the multiple steps of checks-and-balances built into the procedure; the one calming aspect of the tour. Checks and balances. He pointed out that each officer had a key on their control panel. The panels were seven feet apart, so one person would not be able to access both panels. The two officers had to turn the key (red arrow) on their respective panel at the same time and hold it for 3 seconds until the light appeared on the master wall panel in front of them. This simultaneous actuon would launch the missile. One-by-one the white lights to the right of the key on the officer's panel would illuminate, indicating the launch sequence stages. All that was rehearsed in perfect military precision and in an incredibly tight time frame as they continually stayed on alert and prepared for the unthinkable. Chilling!

The signed treaty between Russia and U.S. that ended the Cold War, allowed for each country to keep one strictly modified/de-activated missile site to serve as an educational museum. Tucson was the U.S. site. The missile, still in the silo, is no longer operational. In order for Russia to inspect that the treaty is maintained, the underground silo is partially open at ground level with a glass dome. Also, the warhead has a strategic panel removed so, from their recognizant flights, Russia can see the missile is not an active threat. 

This was a fascinating tour, and a bit scary. So much about military operations and strategies are unknown to us. Ignorance is bliss?

The first four Saturdays in August will describe the four stops we made on a day trip to Tucson. This was a whirlwind day with all four stops. It could easily be a two-day trip to fully enjoy these and so many other fun locations in Tucson.