Word: underground
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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From New York to California, in a total of 18 states, the U.S. is hard at work on the biggest, most complex and crucial military construction program in its peacetime history: the installation of attackproof, underground launching sites for the nation's Atlas, Titan and Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles. By the time this system is completed in 1963 it will have cost $7 billion, and scores of nuclear-armed missiles will be poised to strike, with the flick of a switch, at the enemy heartland...
...alone, 150 Minuteman silos will be dispersed over a 20,000-sq.-mi area, nearly twice the size of Maryland. They have been designed to withstand any nuclear blast short of a direct hit on their steel and concrete doors. From generators to toilets, everything that goes into an underground complex is shockproof or shock-mounted on rubber. The floors and walls of each complex do not join; instead, they are linked with a foot-wide rubber collar that absorbs shock and keeps the walls intact...
...missile installations is Complex 2-A, 725th Strategic Missile Squadron, near Lowry Air Force Base. The complex lies on an abandoned World War II practice bombing range. The land is lonely and peaceful, with the snow-tipped Rockies looming 30 miles away. The only external evidence of an underground fortress is an entrance portal, the ground-level doors over three Titan I silos, and silos containing 100-ft.-long radio antennas that rise along with the missiles and guide them on their way. At the concreted entrance tower, 13 steps spiral downward to a portal and a blastproof revolving door...
...completed, and its Titans are being readied. Around the U.S., as other work progresses, 50 other missiles will be in place by year's end. By 1963, several Minuteman silos will be completed daily; an impressive arsenal of about 200 missiles will be primed and ready. Safely underground and protected against counterfire, they will serve as a grim reminder that the U.S. is well able to strike back against aggression of whatever magnitude. In the long run, that ability may be the deterrent that will keep the silo doors closed...
...three minutes and seven seconds, moves it off an arriving flight and to the claim area in 2 minutes. Capable of handling 1,500 passengers and 3,000 pieces of luggage an hour (figures United does not expect to realize until 1971), much of the process occurs completely underground, with not a human eye or touch involved...