Titan Missile Museum (131) - (from Tucson)

The following day we drove to the last remaining site of a Titan missile. The Titan Missile Museum, also known as Titan II ICBM Site 571-7 is a former ICBM missile site located in Sahuarita, about 15 miles south of Tucson. It is now a museum run by the Arizona Aerospace Foundation and includes a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile still in its silo, as well as the original launch facilities.

The silo became operational in 1963 during the Cold War, when it was discovered Cuba, collaborating with the USSR had active missiles sites and missiles ready to be launched against the USA. In 1982 as part of President Reagan's policy of decommissioning the Titan II missiles, all silos were deactivated and demolished, except this one, and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994.

There were originally 54 sites in total, 18 around McConnell AFB in Wichita, Kansas, 17 sites around Little Rock AFB, Arkansas (one additional site previously damaged beyond repair in a mishap/non-nuclear explosion) and 17 other sites around Davis-Monthan AFB and Tucson. The site locations were strategically positioned towards the southern area of the USA as “the powers that be” in the Pentagon during the Cold War believed any attack from Russian missiles (other than those located in Cuba to the east) would come from the north. Being located in the south and west gave them additiona

l time to launch their own missiles in defence.

Our tour started with a short video on the history of the Titan II and the launch complex. Then everyone taller than 5’10” was provided with a hard hat because underground, there are any number of low-hanging pieces of the structure and its equipment, and as everything is either steel or concrete, the hat’s required clothing.



View of the 103' Titan missile from
the perspex viewing platform
shown in the photo above



The tour moved outside for a guided tour of the surface features of the complex including the hardstands for fuel storage containers and associated control vehicles. There are also restored engines (both stages) from a Titan II missile, and a re-entry vehicle. The silo door is permanently blocked in the half-open position, with the open portion covered with glass panels to protect the missile and silo from the weather, allowing a fantastic view of the silo interior and the missile from the top.

The below-ground part of the tour started with a walk down several flights of stairs and included a visit to the control room, through the controlled access entrance, including a set of 3-ton blast doors. Chantelle was invited to try to move one of these doors and did so quite easily. When we were in the control room, our guide told us each step in the process leading up to a simulated launch - a discussion of the people who would make decisions, and those who would ultimately carry out the President’s order to launch the missile.

Being the youngest people there, both Chantelle and Rochelle were chosen to be the Commander and Deputy Commander during this simulation. They were asked to sit in the appropriate chairs and when advised, turn the launch keys simultaneously. Apparently they used to have (or do have) an audio system there where the sound of the missile firing up was to be heard – that would have been very dramatic! However, today we had to pretend, as there was no sound at all.

The underground facilities consist of a three-level Launch Control Centre, the eight level silo containing the missile and its related equipment, and the connecting structures of access tunnels, blast locks, and the equipment elevator. The complex was built of steel reinforced concrete with walls as much as 8 feet thick (2.4 m) in some areas, and a number of 3-ton blast doors sealed the various areas from the surface and each other.

Time to initiate launch with both
sets of keys simultaneously



The unique nature of the Sahuarita missile site is that all the original equipment is intact. The 103-foot (31 m) Titan II missile inside the silo has neither warhead nor fuel and was used solely for crew training. Originally, the silo held an active nuclear missile, but the training missile replaced it when the facility was converted to a museum.

In accordance with a USA/USSR agreement, the silo doors are permanently blocked from opening more than half way. The dummy reentry vehicle mounted on the missile has a prominent hole cut in it to prove it is inert. All of the support facilities at the site remain intact, complete with all of their original equipment.

The clocks are set to GMT

The Titan II was the largest operational land based nuclear missile ever used by the United States. The missile had one Hydrogen W53 warhead with a yield of 9 Megatons (9,000 kilotons). That’s 600 times bigger than either of those dropped on Japan at the end of WWII. However, to give that explosive power even greater perspective, it’s believed that the USSR’s largest hydrogen warhead was a massive 55 Megatons!

The facility's highest state of alert was November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was shot. When news of the shooting broke, the keys used to launch the missile were ordered to be placed on the tables at the launch consoles to prepare for a possible launch. The Pentagon did not yet know whether the Soviet Union had committed an act of war. The keys were not, however, placed in their switches.

At launch, orders from the National Command Authority would have specified one of three pre-programmed targets which, for security reasons, were unknown to the crew. The missile base that is now the Titan Missile Museum (complex 571-7 of the 390th Strategic Missile Wing) was at the time of closure, programmed to strike "Target Two". The missiles computer could hold up to three targets, and the target selected was determined by Strategic Air Command headquarters.

To change the selected target, the crew commander pressed the appropriate button on the launch console. Target 2, classified to this day, was assumed to be within the borders of the former Soviet Union, and was designated as an impact blast suggesting a hardened facility such as a Soviet missile base. Targets could be selected for air or ground burst, but the selection was only known by the Strategic Air Command.

Once we’d finished in the Command room, we walked through the cableway (tunnel) to the silo to the view the missile and silo from lower down, and from there we were ushered back, above ground and invited to take as many photos as we’d like - the tour took about one hour and was certainly an eye-opener.

Special behind the scenes tours and extended tours are also available, but as they can take 4 to 5 hours, we decided their basic tour would be sufficient. The extended tours allow access to the upper and lower levels of the control center, as well as the various other levels of the silo, antenna silos and other site features. Visitors on the "Beyond the Blast Doors" tour are also allowed to stand directly underneath the missile. Level 8, at 140 feet underground, houses the propellant pumps. If I ever return here, I’d definitely take the extended tour (a male thing I suppose).

Our visit complete, it was time to go home and....more schoolwork :-(