{"id":50097,"date":"2023-01-18T14:33:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T13:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=50097"},"modified":"2025-01-18T01:03:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T00:03:31","slug":"norad-this-is-how-the-great-bunker-of-cheyenne-mountain-was-built-and-this-is-how-it-is-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/01\/18\/norad-this-is-how-the-great-bunker-of-cheyenne-mountain-was-built-and-this-is-how-it-is-inside\/","title":{"rendered":"NORAD: this is how the great bunker of Cheyenne Mountain was built and this is how it is inside"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Without a doubt, the most famous of the military bunkers prepared for a nuclear war is that of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2020\/05\/26\/vistula-program-the-terrible-secret-that-the-ussr-hid-from-the-poles-on-their-own-soil\/\">Vistula Program: the terrible secret that the USSR hid from the Poles on their own soil<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2019\/07\/04\/aralsk-7-abandoned-ships-in-a-desert-and-the-dark-secret-of-a-communist-regime\/\">Aralsk-7: abandoned ships in a desert and the dark secret of a communist regime<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><big>A military complex capable of surviving a 30-megaton explosion<\/big><\/p>\n<p>Its underground facilities are located under <strong>Cheyenne Mountain, in Colorado (United States)<\/strong>, a granite mountain 610 meters high, which provides the military complex with special protection thanks to which <strong >it would be capable of withstanding the explosion of a 30-megaton nuclear bomb<\/strong> (that is, 1,000 kilotons; to give us an idea, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima had 15 kilotons).<strong> Its construction began on May 18, 1961<\/strong>, so he will soon be 60 years old. NORAD became very famous thanks to the movie \"WarGames\" (1983), whose action took place largely in that bunker. Here the original trailer:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hbqMuvnx5MU\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The NORAD bunker is just one of an extensive network of atomic shelters built during the Cold War<\/strong> to guarantee the continuity of the United States Government and the operation of its Armed Forces. In <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.es\/books?id=0eAHTaMMP6QC&pg=PA63&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>\"Historical Dictionary of Cold War Counterintelligence\"<\/em><\/a> (2007), Nigel West pointed out that it is estimated that <strong>there are 96 nuclear bunkers in the District of Columbia alone<\/strong>, where Washington DC is located, although the most of them are much smaller than NORAD.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842037371_f73ff616bd_o.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><big>Construction of the huge Cheyenne Mountain bunker<\/big><\/p>\n<p><strong>The excavation of the Cheyenne Mountain complex lasted three years.<\/strong> Its cost is estimated at 66 million dollars at the time. Construction was carried out by civilian contractors under the supervision of the US Army Corps of Engineers. <strong>Although most of the work was already completed in August 1962, a geological fault forced the construction of a large concrete dome<\/strong> at one of the intersections, and the work was finally completed on May 1, 1964.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842108251_9f378742ba_o.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The habitable zone inside the complex is made up of 11 underground buildings built on giant springs<\/strong> to withstand the shock wave of a possible explosion and the effects of any earthquake.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842134006_733c74a1bc_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>These buildings occupy an area of 16,000 square meters.<\/strong> In total, eight of the buildings, in which the main chambers of the complex are located, have three floors each. There are three other two-story buildings that serve as the support area.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842124982_0d33f30fa1_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The complex <strong>has its own power station<\/strong>, where six large 956-kilowatt diesel generators were originally installed. <strong>It also has underground fuel tanks to feed the electrical station, and four large water tanks<\/strong> with a capacity of 5.67 million liters, which are fed by the natural spring located below the military complex. <strong>These water tanks are navigable, and are even used by US Navy personnel who work in the complex for re-enlistment ceremonies<\/strong> (in the absence of sea), as we see in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/172967\/reservoir-re-enlistment\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this photo taken in 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50841313633_a148878eea_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In this <a href=\"http:\/\/large.stanford.edu\/courses\/2017\/ph241\/summerville2\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">plan posted by Andrew Summerville of Stanford University<\/a>, we see the layout of the complex. <strong>Access to NORAD is formed by a J-shaped tunnel with two entrances<\/strong>, one to the north and one to the south of Cheyenne Mountain. The part of the complex occupied by the NORAD cameras is shaped like a grid. In the southern corner of NORAD are the huge water reservoirs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842108296_a01243998a_b.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842108296_a01243998a_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><big>The most secure facility in the United States<\/big><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Cheyenne Mountain military complex is surely the most secure facility in the United States.<\/strong> In addition to its passive protection measures and the contingent of USAF sentinels that protect this facility, in case of any eventuality <strong> the US Army's 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson (16 miles by road), is prepared to deploy rapidly to Cheyenne Mountain<\/strong>. At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/2524619\/fort-carson-supports-cheyenne-mountain-air-force-station\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this photo<\/a> we see a Stryker infantry fighting vehicle from that Division in an exercise carried out in the tunnel that leads to NORAD in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842037916_ca649325dd_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You will undoubtedly remember from the aforementioned film <strong>the huge atomic explosion-proof door<\/strong> that was closed when the complex was closed. Well, the reality is somewhat different, and that is that at the entrances to the complex <strong>there is not a single explosion-proof door, but two.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50841313568_89d503f247_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The interior of the main chamber of NORAD <\/strong>, in which personnel from the US and Canadian Armed Forces work, is also different from the one in the film: less spacious, as you can see, although <strong>the screen in the background on the right looks like the one from \"WarGames\": will they also play tic tac toe?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842037396_952e00bddb_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>NORAD facilities also include the Missile Warning Center (MWC) <\/strong> of the Center for Space Surveillance Systems and Global Strategic Warning. Its mission, as its name indicates, is to give the alert in case of a nuclear attack with intercontinental ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842037871_0d0991c81e_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><big>Life at NORAD: races, chapel, gym, commissary and even a tavern<\/big><\/p>\n<p>In addition to hosting a major defense center, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/image\/4380798\/north-american-aerospace-defense-command-5k-tunnel-run\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in 2018 the long tunnel of Cheyenne Mountain also hosted a run<\/a> open to US and Canadian personnel from the facility, their families and friends <strong>to celebrate the 60th anniversary of NORAD.<\/strong> strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50842037531_19e8b69891_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the following video, posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCswWdKxzopx1hjxMnq-MJtw\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">USAF Airman Magazine<\/a>, we can see some more details about Cheyenne Mountain. For example, that <strong> it has its own fire department, a chapel, a hospital, a tavern (called the \"Granite Inn\"), a gym, and even a commissary <\/strong> where the personnel of the military complex can do their shopping daily.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l6XQ4Hh8Fxc\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Photo sources: US Air Force \/ Stanford University \/ James Vaughan.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without a doubt, the most famous of the military bunkers prepared for a nuclear war is that of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19536,11550],"tags":[18272,14657,14658,1747,18271,10431,6761],"class_list":["post-50097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-said-yesterday","category-defense","tag-cheyenne-mountain","tag-global-strategic-warning-and-space-surveillance-system-center","tag-missile-warning-center-mwc","tag-norad","tag-royal-canadian-air-force","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-air-force-usaf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}