SAFEGUARD CENTRAL TRAINING FACILITY
The image above depicts a little-known component of America's first attempt at deploying an operational anti-ballistic missile system. The facility depicted in the image is the Safeguard Central Training Facility (SCTF) located on the grounds of Fort Bliss, Texas. This facility was designed to serve as the training location for US Army crews who would be manning the Safeguard ABM system deployed in North Dakota. Note the mock silo installations, with a single Spartan silo and six Sprint silos. The Spartan and a single Sprint silo appear to be fully representative training silos, potentially allowing crews to train on maintaining the missiles inside their launch silos at the operational missile fields in North Dakota. The facility also employed classrooms located in various facilities on Fort Bliss, but the silo compund is the most visually striking reminder of one of America's Cold War weapons programs.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION
Feel free to discuss the current Image of the Week at the IMINT & Analysis Forum Image of the Week discussion thread found here.
SOURCES
-Overhead imagery provided courtesy of Google Earth
The image above depicts a little-known component of America's first attempt at deploying an operational anti-ballistic missile system. The facility depicted in the image is the Safeguard Central Training Facility (SCTF) located on the grounds of Fort Bliss, Texas. This facility was designed to serve as the training location for US Army crews who would be manning the Safeguard ABM system deployed in North Dakota. Note the mock silo installations, with a single Spartan silo and six Sprint silos. The Spartan and a single Sprint silo appear to be fully representative training silos, potentially allowing crews to train on maintaining the missiles inside their launch silos at the operational missile fields in North Dakota. The facility also employed classrooms located in various facilities on Fort Bliss, but the silo compund is the most visually striking reminder of one of America's Cold War weapons programs.ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION
Feel free to discuss the current Image of the Week at the IMINT & Analysis Forum Image of the Week discussion thread found here.
SOURCES
-Overhead imagery provided courtesy of Google Earth
2 comments:
Sorry, comment not related to your "Image of the Week", but "Ballistic Missile Defence System Overview" download doesn't work, check the link.
It does now. They've uploaded a new file and changed the filename, so I fixed the link. Good catch.
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