Super-bunker that’s hidden inside US mountain and can survive a nuclear attack
Topics: US News
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Topics: US News
Fears of a potential nuclear war now seem to be higher than ever, so a bunker hidden inside a mountain within the US would certainly be useful in the event of the unthinkable happening.
Tensions have been heightened in the Middle East in recent weeks after Israel targeted nuclear sites in Iran amid rising fears of nuclear weapons being built in the country.
The US even got involved and, according to Donald Trump, 'completely obliterated' the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites in the Middle Eastern country.
Iran retaliated by firing missiles at US military bases in Qatar and Iraq, which saw no casualties.
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A ceasefire has since been put in place, though Iran's supreme leader declared 'victory' over both Israel and the US.
While conflict may have been halted for now, the talk of a nuclear attack remains louder than ever, so a bomb-proof bunker found in the Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado would certainly come in handy.
The Cheyenne Mountain Complex was built during the Cold War and was designed to withstand nuclear, electromagnetic, and biological attacks.
The remarkable piece of engineering was completed in 1967, though it began operating at the height of the Cold War in 1966.
Today, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex is used for space and missile defense.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command website explains: "At the height of the Cold War in the late 1950s, the idea of a hardened command and control center was conceptualized as a defense against long-range Soviet bombers.
"The Army Corps of Engineers supervised the excavation of Cheyenne Mountain and the construction of an operational center within the granite mountain."
A whopping 693,000 tons of granite had to be moved to make way for the complex, as workers built an impressive 5.1 acre bunker, with a height of 2,915 meters.
The bunker is equipped with mammoth 23-ton blast doors. In fact, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex is believed to be so secure that a 30-megaton nuclear bomb wouldn't penetrate through.
While the bunker would fair well against the majority of nuclear weapons, the 50-megaton Tsar Bomb, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested, would absolutely obliterate it.
As the bunker has become modernised over the years, the likes of fiber optic cable have been installed.
US Air Force Tech Sgt. David McCarney said: "The fiber optic cable allows users to transmit voice, data, and other forms of communication over long distances.
"The secondary cable will allow the complex continuous network access if the primary cable goes down."