After decades of being shrouded in secrecy, the Colorado Springs facility has finally been opened to the public eye. Thanks to exclusive images and film released by the U.S. Air Force, we’re finally able to tour of one of the most secretive military bases in the world. 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. Formerly the center for the United States Space Command and NORAD monitored the air space of Canada and the United States through a world-wide system for missiles, space systems, and foreign aircraft through its early-warning system. Since 2008, NORAD and the United States Space Command have been based at Peterson Air Force Base and the complex, re-designated as an air force station, is used for flight crew training and as a back-up command center if required. The military complex has included many units of NORAD, U.S. Space Command, Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM), Air Force Systems Command, Air Weather Service, and Federal Emergency Management (FEMA). The complex's communication center is also used by the nearby U.S. Civil Defense Warning Center. The station has an exercise, weights, and cardio gym that is open 24 hours a day. The complex was built under 2,000 feet (610 m) of granite on five 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 bunker is built to deflect a 30 megaton nuclear explosion as close as 2 kilometres (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 if 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, radio-logical, and nuclear contaminants. Structures outside of the military complex include the parking lots and roads, a heliport, and the fire station. Outdoor recreational facilities include Mountain Man Park, picnic areas, a racquetball facility, softball field, sand volleyball court, basketball court, a putting green, and horseshoe area. A military gate limits NORAD Road usage from the State Highway 115 interchange. It has its own power plant, heating and cooling system, and water supply and it is the job of the 721st Mission Support Group to ensure that there is a 99.999% degree of reliability of its electricity, water, air conditioning, power, and other support systems. The threats, in descending order of likelihood that the complex may face are: "medical emergencies, natural disasters, civil disorder, a conventional attack, an electromagnetic pulse attack, a cyber or information attack, chemical or biological or radio-logical attack, an improvised nuclear attack, a limited nuclear attack, or a general nuclear attack." The least likely events are the most hazardous. There is more water produced by mountain springs than the base needs, and a 1.5 million gallon reservoir ensures that even in event of fire, there is enough water to meet the facility's needs. A reservoir of 4.5 million gallons of water is used as a heat sink. There is a "massive" reservoir for diesel fuel and a "huge" battery bank with redundant power generators. The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) was established and activated at the Ent Air Force Base on September 12, 1957. This command is a bi-national organization, of Canadian and United States Air Defense Command units, in accordance with NORAD Agreements first made on May 12, 1958. In the late 1950's, a plan was developed to construct a command and control center in a hardened facility as a Cold War defensive strategy against long-range Soviet bombers, ballistic missiles, and a nuclear attack. The mountain was excavated under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Cheyenne Mountain beginning on May 18, 1961, by Utah Construction & Mining Company. The Space Defense Center and the Combat Operations Center achieved Full Operational Capability on February 6, 1967. The total cost was $142.4 million. Its systems included a command and control system developed by Burroughs Corporation. The electronics and communications system centralized and automated the instantaneous (one-millionth of a second) evaluation of aerospace surveillance data. The Space Defense Center moved from Ent AFB to the complex in 1965. The NORAD Combat Operations Center over was fully operational April 20, 1966 and The Space Defense Command's 1st Aerospace Control Squadron moved to Cheyenne Mountain that month. The following systems or commands became operational between May and October, 1966: The NORAD Attack Warning System, Combat Operations Command, and Delta I computer system, which involved recording and monitoring every detected space system. By January 4, 1967, the National Civil Defense Warning Center was in the bunker.
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