Missile launch facility
A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs). Similar facilities can be used for anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs).
"Launch facility" redirects here. Not to be confused with space launch facility, launch pad, launch complex, or Launch Complex (disambiguation).
The structures typically have the missile some distance below ground, protected by a large "blast door" on top. They are usually connected, physically and/or electronically, to a missile launch control center.
With the introduction of the Soviet UR-100 and the U.S. Titan II missile series, underground silos changed in the 1960s. Both missile series introduced the use of hypergolic propellant, which could be stored in the missiles, allowing for rapid launches. Both countries' liquid-fueled missile systems were moved into underground silos. The introduction of solid fuel systems, in the later 1960s, made the silo moving and launching even easier.[1]
The underground missile silo has remained the primary missile basing system and launch facility for land-based missiles since the 1960s. The increased accuracy of inertial guidance systems has rendered them somewhat more vulnerable than they were in the 1960s.
Other than underground facilities, ballistic missiles can be launched from above-ground facilities, or can be launched from mobile platforms, e.g. transporter erector launchers, railcars, ballistic missile submarines or airplanes.
1944 conjectural reconstruction of the rocket preparation chamber and tunnels (on the assumption that A4 rockets were to be handled).
Impression of a V2 in the assembly hall at Éperleques.
The La Coupole facility is the earliest known precursor to modern underground missile silos still in existence. It was built by the forces of Nazi Germany in northern Occupied France, between 1943 and 1944, to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets. The facility was designed with an immense concrete dome to store a large stockpile of V-2s, warheads and fuel, and was intended to launch V-2s on an industrial scale. Dozens of missiles a day were to be fuelled, prepared and rolled just outdoors of the facility's concrete casing, launched from either of two outdoor launch pads in rapid sequence against London and southern England. A similar-purpose but less-developed facility, the Blockhaus d'Eperlecques, had also been built, some 14.4 kilometers (8.9 miles) north-northwest of La Coupole, and closer to intended targets in southeastern England.
Following repeated heavy bombing by Allied forces during Operation Crossbow, the Germans were unable to complete construction of the works and the complex never entered service. The United Kingdom conducted post-war investigations, determining that it was "an assembly site for long projectiles most conveniently handled and prepared in a vertical position".[2]
RT-23/SS-24 Molodets ICBM silo near Pervomaysk Ukraine.
Plokštinė R-12 Dvina MRBM base.
R-36 missile being lowered into a missile silo.
The former Soviet Union had missile silos in Russia and adjacent Soviet states during the Cold War, such as the Plokštinė missile base in Lithuania. The Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning, near Solnechnogorsk outside Moscow, was completed by the Soviet Union in 1971, and remains in use by the Russian Federation.
Great Britain[edit]
Great Britain did not have any silo ICBMs. During the 1960s several surface based erector launcher pads for Thor IRBMs were installed but were removed just a few years later when Blue Steel carrying V bombers came into service.
Loading ICBM Topol-M into the launch silo.
Russia has silo-based weapons. The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF) (Strategic Missile Troops) controls Russia's land-based inter-continental ballistic missiles.
Missile silo cover at Sirene Observatory, Plateau d'Albion.
China[edit]
China has silo-based weapons, but is now concentrating development on expanding its submarine and road-capable mobile weapons, especially for tunnel networks.[8] Two silos fields appear to be under construction.[9]
Pakistan[edit]
Pakistan has built hard and deeply buried storage and launch facilities to retain a second strike capability in a nuclear war.[10]
North Korea[edit]
North Korea built a missile silo complex south of Paektu Mountain. The silos are reportedly designed for mid- to long-range missiles, but it is not clear if all of them are operational.[11]
Iran[edit]
Iran has silo-based weapons, having built a system of underground missile silos to protect missiles from detection and (above-ground) launch facilities from aerial destruction.[12][13]
Israel[edit]
It is believed that Israel has MRBM and ICBM launch facilities.