Missile Silo Sliding Door

For nearly thirty.

Missile silo sliding door.

A missile launch facility also known as an underground missile silo launch facility or nuclear silo is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The lcd is moved by a ballistic gas generator that uses highly pressurized gas to open the door. The launcher closure door is the hexagon shaped concrete cap that seals off the minuteman missile inside its launch tube at the launch facility. It is on rails.

For routine maintenance where the silo door needs to be opened for access to the missile the door is cranked slowly along the rails via hydraulic motors to open the 90 ton door. The structures typically have the missile some distance below ground protected by a large blast door on top. Apart from offering its new owner a 6 000 pound blast doors the bunker is also protected. The launcher closure door weighs approximately 110 tons and its design is to protect the minutman missile inside the launch facility from an enemy nuclear blast.

The missile silo is leftover from the beginning of the cold war when the u s. The commander is forfeiting 3 045 in pay for each of two months and facing a discharge board. It is a steel plate with a layer of concrete on top of it. The access hatch for crews to service the missile is still there and the whole site is surrounded by the original eight foot security fence.

The lcd rests on three rails and can be pushed to one side of the silo prior to launch or for maintenance. Us land based missile silos have a reinforced concrete door that slides over the silo. It s a piece of history as the site is one of 18 missile silos built by the american government in tucson. If you enjoyed this video please leave a like.

The silo blast doors are at the bottom of a shaft that leads to the launch control center. This is a slightly longer version of the door closing using additional footage shot by david soll from the surface and greg macdonald from inside the silo. Began developing the atlas missile system which placed the missiles in bases throughout the country. The launcher closure door lcd as it is officially called has a mass of 110 tons.