An official film made by the U.S. Air Force in the late 1970s, this Aerospace Defense Command News Digest #93 takes a look at the United States’ nuclear triad and the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. The film begins with images of the B-52, Polaris missile, and the Minuteman missile, which are known as the “Triad forces” of nuclear defense. Major General Otis C. Moore then describes the mission of the Aerospace Defense Command and the 14th Aerospace Force, which is to warn the President of the United States prior to any attack by the enemy, so that an appropriate response can be made. The film then presents a tour of Cheyenne Mountain control complext as presented by Col. Barney Sakowski. The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a military installation and nuclear bunker located in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, which hosts the activities of several tenant units. Also located in Colorado Springs is Peterson Air Force Base, where the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) headquarters are located.
The complex was built under 2,000 feet (610 m) of granite on 2 hectares (5 acres). Fifteen three-story buildings are protected from movement by an earthquake or explosion by a system of giant springs that the buildings sit on and flexible pipe connectors to limit the operational effect of movement. A total of more than 1,000 springs are designed to prevent any of the 15 buildings from shifting more than one inch. The complex is the only high altitude Department of Defense facility certified to be able to sustain an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). There is a large quantity of cots for most of the personnel and suites for “top brass” within the nuclear bunker. Amenities include a medical facility, store, cafeteria, and fitness centers inside and outside the mountain.
The 25-ton North blast door seen at 5:30 is the main entrance to another blast door (background) beyond which the side tunnel branches into access tunnels to the main chambers. The bunker is built to deflect a 30 megaton nuclear explosion as close as 2 kilometers (1.2 mi). Within a mountain tunnel are sets of 25-ton blast doors and another for the civil engineering department. The doors were built so that they can always be opened when needed. Should a nuclear blast hit the building, they are designed to withstand a blast wave. There is a network of blast valves with unique filters to capture air-borne chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear contaminants.
The 1st Aerospace Surveillance and Control Squadron, a unit of the USAF Air Defense Command, was activated on 6 February 1961, organized on 14 February 1961, and became operational on 1 July 1961 as the SPACETRACK[3]:38 component of NORAD Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS). It was the operational version of research and development Project Space Track. Effective 1 October 1961, the Squadron was assigned to the 9th Aerospace Defense Division, which had been activated on 15 July 1961. Until April 1966, when operations were moved to the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex, 1st Aero was located on the bottom two floors of Ent AFB building P4 Annex, a former hospital building, adjacent to the NORAD command center. The Space Defense Command’s 1st Aerospace Control Squadron moved from Ent AFB to Cheyenne Mountain in April 1966.
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