Even though theyre in terrible environments, some portion of that land is strategically important, he says. 2. SAC had given up on its own DUSC bunker plans by the end of 1963 and decided to proceed with an entirely airborne emergency command and control strategy centered on its EC-135 fleets instead. In January 1962, Charles Hitch, then the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), sent a memorandum regarding a proposed Deep Underground Command Center (DUCC) to then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Its also used as a refueling station and emergency runway. Because of the remote location and stringent security. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. 290 N 116W. Speculations about the advanced technology that exists within Deep Underground Military Bases (D.U.M.B. The elevators and transit system would allow personnel to get into the tunnel networks thousands of feet below within 10 minutes and into the actual DUCC itself within 15 minutes. Darmon Richter More than ever, stories are swapped around the world strengthening myths and tall tales. The U.S. leases 11 of the 97 small islands that make up the atoll and surround a central lagoon perfectly suited for reentry of airborne items. The personnel live at Peterson and the nearby Air Force Academy. You will be able to read all about these ships in an upcoming War Zone feature. Seemingly innocent fitness trackers such as Strava chart movement. Reservations.com Wins Bronze in 9th Annual Best in Biz Awards. In 1963, McNamara's office had estimated that the "austere" DUCC would cost $110 million, almost $928 million in 2020 dollars, between the 1965 and 1969 Fiscal Years, almost $760 million of which would be for construction alone. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. In 1970, the Navy decommissioned both USS Northampton and USS Wright, bringing the NECPA mission to an end. Investigative journalist George Knapp takes a look at the myriad tunnels and how t At its peak 1,800 U.S. and Canadian military personnel manned the facility, and dorm-style housing, cafeterias, food, water, and electricity made the facility self-sufficient in emergencies. from the Edward Snowdon leak, is to support intelligence and military activity. Background: A small island off the coast of Washington State, the U.S. Navy purchased land on Indian Island in 1939. . to pilots flying too close. Their function is likely to pinpoint the locations of airstrikes, nuclear weapons, and other military and intelligence hubs. Unlike any fortification on earth, the Deep Underground Command Center was intended to withstand multiple direct hits from giant nukes on Doomsday. In 1966, the secret base was turned into a cosmodrome, which is still operating today. Less than two weeks after the Office of the Secretary of Defense completed its final draft of the plan to send to the White House, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy during a visit to Dallas, Texas. ), 'We're not your enemies!' Today, the remains of the German village are eligible to be included on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. In 1961, the U.S. military had already begun to implement the National Mission Command System (NMCS), which included two bunkers, a hardened National Military Command Center at the Pentagon and an Alternate National Military Command Center (ANMCC). It's a fantastic piece of engineering in the middle of the woods of Schnenburg. Even the New York Times printed a piece detailing the large red sphere supposedly sighted and the eye-witness accounts of a 3-eyed alien wearing silvery overalls. There are no precise figures on how many lives have been lost during the conflict, but some estimates put the death toll as high as 5000, many of which are attributed to climate-related events. You've subscribed to D.U.M.B.s (Deep Underground Military Bases)! Google Earth zooms us incredibly close to untouched parts of the world. He was also a member of the National Security Council during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Russians have a history of latching onto superstitions about magic and folklore and even incredibly detailed and elaborate, . The first of the captured missiles was sent aloft on October 18, 1947. How Its Unique: The Chinese have taken a resort island and turned underwater tunnels into an entrance to an underground naval base. Background: Once a ballistic missile radar home in the 1970s, the outdated system is still in use, while the airstrip serves as an active emergency landing zone. It's also important to remember that this memorandum came just over a year after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, where the United States and the Soviet Union had gotten worrying close to an actual nuclear exchange. Background: In operation since 1917, the facility saw rapid growth around World War II. How Its Unique: The first naval base in Europe and now the home to more than 70 percent of Frances navy, the arsenal on the east coast has continued to grow and evolve over the centuries. Area 51 is an active military base. Its position is ideal for refueling during trans-Pacific flights, and the airport is available to civilians through Air Marshall Islands and United Airlines, Germany: Bchel Air Base is a military air base in Germany. The U.S. military has about 5,000 cases of the coronavirus and the possibility of NORAD being no longer able to function was a real one. 26. The Worlds 30 Strangest and Most Secret Military Bases, United States AirForce/ Peterson Airforce Base Photos, (Photo by Fred W. Baker III/www.defense.gov), Apple Could Owe You $395 for Its Faulty Keyboard, remote islands tracking objects in deep space, best-in-class military features and get unlimited access to, The Army Found a Way to Keep Your Hands Warm Without Gloves, SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon 1 rocket, spot and track space junk and small satellites. , You dont bury any waterlines, communication lines or even sanitary lines, Schulz says. Sure It Will. The cost of the full 300-person bunker complex was pegged at $310 million, or around $2.6 billion in 2020 dollars. The command was originally set up to track Soviet bombers, then ballistic missiles. NORAD is a joint U.S.-Canadian military command tasked to keep a watch on air and space, tracking objects approaching North America. Located in a highly contested ocean territory, its a no-mans-land where 5 countries lay claim to the waters. "After a brief puzzled expression, Johnson let loose with a string of Johnsonian expletives making clear he thought this was the stupidest idea he had ever heard and that he had no intention of hiding in an expensive hole while the rest of Washington and probably the United States were burned to a crisp. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and is currently home to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Massachusetts: Otis Air National Guard Base is an Air National Guard installation located within the Massachusetts Military Reservation, a military training facility, located on the western portion of Cape Cod, New York: The Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy. As an atoll, the land itself is rather oddly shaped, too. The facility is carved out of solid granite and the entrance is protected by 25 ton steel doors. To actually get an idea of what the inside of the facility might be like, the Netflix show by the same name is a good watch. One of the U.S. Military's most enigmatic military bases is open for business again because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Military Bases & Facilities in Strasbourg. After 9/11 it was also assigned a homeland defense mission, monitoring commercial airspace for signs of hijackings. How It's Unique: The location1,200 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska, and only 200 miles east of Russia on the island of Shemya in the Aleutiansgives this desolate location some intrigue. emerge from the ocean with names like Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross. For years it has maintained a measure of mystery caused by bizarre lights twinkling strangely in the surrounding skies. SAC's DUSC proposal had also called for a command and control center buried 3,500 feet below ground in order to withstand a 100 megaton weapon detonating on the surface anywhere within 0.5 nautical miles from the spot above ground directly above the center of the facility. In addition, airborne command and control centers remain at the core of how the National Command Authority would communicate with the elements of the U.S. nuclear triad during a major crisis. The design of a base needs to address the immediate needs of a military while still being versatile enough to remain useful as threats and technology evolve. It also included plans for a National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP) and the National Emergency Command Post Afloat (NECPA). In the early 1970s, the Air Force began the process of replacing the three EC-135J National Emergency Airborne Command Post aircraft with three more capable Boeing 747-based E-4A Advanced Airborne Command Post planes. They say even been the site of alien wars. 2. How Its Unique: Troops stationed in this barely inhabitable war zone face endless peril. From end to end, Diego Garcia is 34 miles long, but its total area is only 11 square miles. Its certainly not a very secret installation, but its well-protected.. With temperatures dropping below minus-60 degrees Fahrenheit, keeping troops warm is crucial. Raven Rock Mountain Complex - Site R Tour. DUM base. While there are numerous Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBS), and even several joint military/alien bases such as Dulce this book covers the secret alien locations which government and military leaders around the world pretend don't exist. It was established on May 13, 1946 and, a year later, testing on the German A-4 (V-2) rocket began. The site has more than 100 magazines for weapon storage, located underground in domed mounds. The 1963 memorandum does not say where exactly the DUCC would be located, but, plans from McNamara's office showed it was to have been buried under the Potomac River, which lies roughly halfway between the Pentagon and the White House, according to Raven Rock: The U.S. Government's Secret Plan To Save Itself While The Rest Of Us Die. Whatever the actual source of the DUCC plan was, it is clear that the driving factor was the increasing capabilities of Soviet nuclear weapons, especially with regards to their yields. However, the actual facility is located a quarter-mile beneath the surface. Extremely low-frequency communications arrays, which you can read about in more detail in this past War Zone piece, which are themselves largely buried underground, might have provided a more hardened option, and remain in service in the United States and elsewhere for this very reason. Check This Out: Russia Says Its New Body Armor Will Stop .50-Caliber Bullets. This military base or fortification article is a stub. Background: This joint U.S. and U.K. operation is situated on a tiny atoll about 1000 miles from India and tasked with providing logistical support to forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are home to infrastructure that raises some level of concern, economically, ecologically and politically. The use of an abandoned mine shaft in the plan has since evoked references to the "mineshaft gap" scene from the famous Cold War dark comedy Dr. Strangelove, which came out in 1964. Heres another thought, maybe these are part of a network that will eventually connect to the underwater deep sea base China plans to build? Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News, and others. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the topic of "continuity of government," plans in place to ensure critical elements of the U.S. government can keep functioning in the midst of an extreme crisis, back into the general public consciousness. How Its Unique: One-of-a-kind bases like Cheyenne pose countless construction challenges and need to satisfy seemingly impossible requirements, like being able to withstand multi-megaton attacks. its existence. In the 1950s and the early 1960s, the U.S. government had built numerous other bunker complexes in addition to Raven Rock for continuity of government purposes, including the aforementioned Cheyenne Mountain facility, as well as the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Read This Next: Pakistans First Fighter Plane Has a Mystery Buyer.