Adirondack Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Silo air park Saranac, NY

Atlas-F missile sites

The Atlas-F missile sites were activated in 1961, and after a short operational period, were decommissioned in 1965. These sites were the first of the "super hardened" missile silos, built to withstand a 200 pound per square inch blast. Atlas F (structure only) construction costs range from $14 million to $18 million dollars each in 1960’s dollars. Today that would equate to nearly $140 million dollars using a Consumer Price Index (CPI) calculator to adjust for inflation.
Missile Silo The missile silo is a huge structure 52 ft. inside diameter and approximately 176 feet deep. Access is from a 40 foot tunnel with 3 blast doors leading from the Launch Control Center (LCC). The Missile Silo has 2 overhead 90 ton doors that can often be reopened. There were originally 7 floor levels inside the silo, however app, 2/3 of the F silos have been salvaged out and only bare walls remain. Multiple levels could be rebuilt in the silo. A deck built in the silo would provide almost 2,000 sq. ft. of floor-space.

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Land Land sizes with the Atlas-F series vary greatly, due to post-government division. The minimum typical acreage is 5 acres, although some are still deeded with the original 10-22 acres the government used. Originally, the inner 5 acres of these sites were surrounded by a 8 ft. barbed wire topped chain-link security fence. This fence remains on some sites. There are two concrete (Quonset) pads 40 ft. by 100 ft. on each site. An antenna silo, 8 ft. diameter and 29 ft deep, remains in the ground on each site.

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