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In England we have defense facilities disguised as farmhouses. We don't have land-based missiles but this [0] is/was a government bunker from which launch order

In England we have defense facilities disguised as farmhouses. We don't have land-based missiles but this [0] is/was a government bunker from which launch orders could be given. I wondered if you meant idiotic in the sense of unrealistic for America, or as a bad idea tactically? [0]http://www.secretnuclearbunker.com/ http://www.secretnuclearbunker.com/

CapitalistCartr 12y ago
Sorry, I meant the US ones are nothing like that. It was totally inaccurate. In the USA, all the farmers/ranchers know where the stuff is. "Excuse me, we're looking for Sierra 7." "Yeah, it's down this road for a mile, then left on 127." And the Soviets wouldn't have been fooled either. So they look like military installations.
- bdamm 12y ago
  That may be true in some but certainly not all cases. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/us/roswell-new-mexico-missile-silo-for-sale.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/us/roswell-new-mexico-miss...
  - CapitalistCartr 12y ago
    That's a decommissioned silo. When it was operational, it would have had the fence and usual such around it. The Northern Tier facilities are mostly underground, too. The actual silos (Launch Facilities) look like basically nothing from the top, were it not for the fence and nasty signage starting "Use of deadly force authorized". Also the Southern Tier silos had the launch control facilities integrated with them.
- maaku 12y ago
  It's not about hiding the facilities from locals, it's about hiding them from satellites. Or at least providing enough uncertainty that the enemy doesn't know for certain how many or which installations are where. More morbidly, in a first strike scenario you want the enemy to waste nukes on actual farmhouses it couldn't tell for certain were launch facilities or not. Then even if no facilities are missed (something you would be hoping for), that's still fewer nukes to be dropped on cities and conventional military installations.
  - sukilot 12y ago
    There is no point dropping a nuke on a single tactical target. Nukes have a blast range of miles and a regular missle can take our a facility just fine.
  - CapitalistCartr 12y ago
    Whatever the reasoning, the USAF didn't do the farmhouse thing. We did the big fence, nasty signs, and heavily armed guards.

CapitalistCartr 12y ago

Sorry, I meant the US ones are nothing like that. It was totally inaccurate. In the USA, all the farmers/ranchers know where the stuff is. "Excuse me, we're looking for Sierra 7." "Yeah, it's down this road for a mile, then left on 127." And the Soviets wouldn't have been fooled either. So they look like military installations.

bdamm 12y ago
That may be true in some but certainly not all cases. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/us/roswell-new-mexico-missile-silo-for-sale.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/us/roswell-new-mexico-miss...
- CapitalistCartr 12y ago
  That's a decommissioned silo. When it was operational, it would have had the fence and usual such around it. The Northern Tier facilities are mostly underground, too. The actual silos (Launch Facilities) look like basically nothing from the top, were it not for the fence and nasty signage starting "Use of deadly force authorized". Also the Southern Tier silos had the launch control facilities integrated with them.
maaku 12y ago
It's not about hiding the facilities from locals, it's about hiding them from satellites. Or at least providing enough uncertainty that the enemy doesn't know for certain how many or which installations are where. More morbidly, in a first strike scenario you want the enemy to waste nukes on actual farmhouses it couldn't tell for certain were launch facilities or not. Then even if no facilities are missed (something you would be hoping for), that's still fewer nukes to be dropped on cities and conventional military installations.
- sukilot 12y ago
  There is no point dropping a nuke on a single tactical target. Nukes have a blast range of miles and a regular missle can take our a facility just fine.
- CapitalistCartr 12y ago
  Whatever the reasoning, the USAF didn't do the farmhouse thing. We did the big fence, nasty signs, and heavily armed guards.