Titan Missile Museum, Arizona

Currently the only Intercontinental Missile (ICBM) silo complex in the country that is open to the public. Most of the hardware is still in place, including the 110 foot tall Titan II rocket. The facility consists of three underground structures, connected by tunnels: the control center; the silo; and, in between them, the blast lock structure, which contains the access portal and the stairwell that brings you 35 feet underground and through the blast door into the facility. This site is one of 54 Titan II silos, in use from 1963 to 1984, and located in three separate silo fields: this field of 18 silos, in the vicinity of Davis Monthan Air Force Base, in Tucson; another 18 near Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas; and another 18 near McConnell Air Force Base, in Wichita, Kansas. The Titan II was the largest ICBM ever made by the USA. The last Titan II silo was decommissioned in 1987, replaced by more advanced Minuteman and MX Peacekeeper ICBMs, deployed in 1,000 silos across the Great Plains. Many of the Titan silos were sold to the public at auction, after the Air Force detonated the launch duct and salvaged reusable equipment (the access portal and control centers were left intact and some are used now as storage, and in some cases even as homes by their new owners). The Titan II rockets have been refitted and used for satellite deployment. There are still around 500 currently active Minuteman ICBM silos, located mostly in the great plains states.

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CLUI photo
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