[HN Gopher] Missile Base for Sale
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Missile Base for Sale
        
       Author : iamhamm
       Score  : 116 points
       Date   : 2021-08-28 15:40 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (mobile.missilebaseforsale.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (mobile.missilebaseforsale.com)
        
       | dundercoder wrote:
       | From Wikipedia " Sprint accelerated at 100 g, reaching a speed of
       | Mach 10 in 5 seconds. Such a high velocity at relatively low
       | altitudes created skin temperatures up to 6,200 degF (3,430
       | degC), requiring an ablative shield to dissipate the heat. The
       | high temperature caused a plasma to form around the missile,
       | requiring extremely powerful radio signals to reach it for
       | guidance. The missile glowed bright white as it flew."
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_(missile)?wprov=sfti1
        
       | clircle wrote:
       | What a steal!
        
       | NiceWayToDoIT wrote:
       | Erm, if you buy it, do you need to inform Russians and Chinese to
       | delete that particular site as a target in case of the nuclear
       | exchange? :)
        
       | mrtweetyhack wrote:
       | advertising
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | That was one of the four outlying defense bases to defend the
       | Safeguard radars. The huge radar at the main base in the center
       | is still working, and the main site is still a USAF installation.
       | 
       | The US has some working missile defenses. Vandenberg is the main
       | US launch site for them. They might be able to stop an attack
       | from North Korea, or at least thin it out a bit. They only have
       | 30 interceptors or so, which is nowhere near enough to do much
       | against a superpower attack. That missile defense operation is
       | run by the Army, not the USAF or Space Force.
       | 
       | Some US Navy ships have anti-ICBM capability, but that's only
       | useful if a ship happens to be in the right position at the right
       | time.
        
         | krisoft wrote:
         | > Some US Navy ships have anti-ICBM capability, but that's only
         | useful if a ship happens to be in the right position at the
         | right time.
         | 
         | Interesting anecdote on this topic: One of these shipborne
         | anti-ICBM systems is called the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense
         | System. By all accounts it seems successful enough of a system,
         | but as Animats mentions above there is the problem that it is
         | only useful if the ships are in the right place. And if you
         | never move your ships, why would you want to pay all the extra
         | costs associated with their maintenance? So people come up with
         | the concept of installing the same system on shore based
         | installations. They called it the Aegis Ashore system. If you
         | squint at it it kinda looks like as if the rough outline of a
         | ship's superstructure is sunk into the concrete:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis_Ballistic_Missile_Defens...
         | 
         | So now we have Aegis, and Aegis Ashore. Here comes the twist.
         | Japan wanted to install the Aegis Ashore system, but for
         | various reasons they couldn't find the right place on land to
         | put it. So they come up with the idea of installing it on
         | barges. And if they do we will have Aegis Ashore-Afloat. :)
         | (Though I'm reading just now that it seems they have canceled
         | these plans. Pity.)
        
         | ortusdux wrote:
         | Sounds like a high value target, and therefore a foolish place
         | for a private individual to build a bunker.
        
         | willvarfar wrote:
         | > Some US Navy ships have anti-ICBM capability, but that's only
         | useful if a ship happens to be in the right position at the
         | right time
         | 
         | A lot of the interest in surface ships shooting down ballistic
         | missiles is because China and Russia have been developing
         | hyper-sonic anti-ship missiles.
        
           | AtlasBarfed wrote:
           | And the navy wants to pretend their surface fleet isn't
           | sitting ducks against real state actors in an actual war with
           | a real power.
           | 
           | Allegedly the Navy has an actual usable point defense
           | laser... but I strongly suspect all these high tech capital
           | defenses are just the usual Navy boondoggles to enrich
           | contractors and will be worthless against swarm drone
           | attacks.
        
             | Animats wrote:
             | Not yet. Laser defense systems keep getting better each
             | year. Solid state 70KW lasers are in test. The consensus is
             | that they start to get militarily useful above 100KW.
             | 
             | Higher powered chemical lasers have been built, but were
             | too bulky, fragile, and difficult to operate. The high
             | point of this was MIRACL, a big fixed-installation megawatt
             | chemical laser.[1] Israel tried a US-made chemical laser
             | about a decade ago, and it worked against small rockets and
             | artillery shells, but it took several semitrailers of
             | support equipment. A newer one built in Israel is less
             | bulky and solid state, and will probably go into service.
             | 
             | These are all systems with ranges of tens of kilometers at
             | maximum. ICBMs remain out of reach for now.
             | 
             | The USAF is already testing lasers against drone swarms.[2]
             | That's not as hard. 30KW can take out a drone, and the
             | laser can be re-positioned fast. Truck-mounted versions of
             | that will probably surround US air bases in hostile
             | territory within a very few years.
             | 
             | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRACL
             | 
             | [2] https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a297
             | 27696...
        
         | Animats wrote:
         | Another one of the four outlying launch sites is a tourist
         | destination.[1]
         | 
         | [1] http://rsl3.com
        
       | yeldarb wrote:
       | I recently watched this YouTube about visiting a bunker community
       | in South Dakota that was pretty interesting:
       | https://youtu.be/QW6DIchOpnc
       | 
       | Looks like it's only 1/10 of the price to buy one of those
       | instead!
        
       | leetrout wrote:
       | Located here:
       | 
       | https://www.google.com/maps/@48.8490754,-98.4321807,564m/dat...
        
       | LegitShady wrote:
       | Anything that lists Winkler Manitoba as an attraction is an
       | obvious scam.
        
         | whoisthemachine wrote:
         | Langdon is a nice little town, I wouldn't call it an attraction
         | however, but to each their own...
        
         | Igelau wrote:
         | The "city" seal has a shopping cart on it!
         | 
         | https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/577912501276278784/f8oM...
        
           | ThePadawan wrote:
           | I think you would have been right by putting "shopping cart"
           | in quotes as well. Blimey.
        
           | toast0 wrote:
           | And the settings icon. And pasta? Maybe I can shop, get my
           | car fixed and get something to eat? Sounds attractive.
        
             | Igelau wrote:
             | > pasta
             | 
             | I think it's supposed to be a sheaf of grain. Same idea!
        
       | varelse wrote:
       | The cool kids all bought New Zealand citizenship so this is your
       | once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in their hand-me-downs
       | oops I mean tax write offs...
        
         | beaner wrote:
         | What
        
           | NateEag wrote:
           | I think it's a reference to the fact that NZ looks like a
           | great place to ride out a nuclear exchange.
           | 
           | Most of the nuclear powers are in the northern hemisphere, so
           | you want to be southern.
           | 
           | Obviously you want to be somewhere that's not going to be a
           | target, and as a small island nation without nukes (and in
           | fact one that forbids nuclear-powered vehicles from entering
           | its airspace:
           | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_nuclear-
           | free_zon...), NZ is very unlikely to be targeted by any
           | nuclear combatants.
           | 
           | It's just big enough that it's got some chance of sustaining
           | basic industry in event of the major powers collapsing back
           | into the stone age.
           | 
           | Despite that, as a remote island, no one's likely to invade
           | it for its resources or infrastructure after a nuclear war.
           | It's just too hard to get there without modern navies and air
           | forces.
           | 
           | So, all that to say I think the OP is (sarcastically?)
           | suggesting that someone rich has acquired a place in NZ and
           | is looking to dump this bunker they no longer have a use for.
        
       | dylan604 wrote:
       | Asking $1,500,000.00 January 14, 2021: Reduced to $550,000
       | 
       | Terms: Cash or $500,000 down and owner carry remainder
       | 
       | They'll carry the remaining $50k after your $500k down payment.
       | Sounds like they're okay with $500k flat to me.
       | 
       | Edit: I'm not seeing an address for the site. I need to know what
       | school district it is in, and how close to downtown and other
       | activity centers. Maybe that helps explain the $50k wiggle room?
        
         | sethev wrote:
         | Downtown? The entire county that this is in has fewer than 4k
         | people living there. This would be for someone who wants to get
         | as far away from activity centers as possible while still
         | staying in the lower 48.
        
           | formerly_proven wrote:
           | But does it have fiber internet?
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | If you can afford $500k in cash, you can afford to have
             | fiber run to you.
        
               | vl wrote:
               | You need to run fiber from somewhere, and something tells
               | me there is no connection office in few hundred miles.
        
         | leetrout wrote:
         | It's located here
         | https://www.google.com/maps/@48.8490754,-98.4321807,564m/dat...
         | 
         | 103rd Ave NE & 99th St
        
           | gnu8 wrote:
           | It's not good to use any Google products or services. Here is
           | a good alternative:
           | https://zoom.earth/#view=48.84914,-98.431622,18z
        
             | tills13 wrote:
             | It's perfectly reasonable to use Google products or
             | services because, quite often, they are just flat out
             | better. I'd say that's the case here since the Google one
             | has much higher fidelity at higher levels of zoom. Besides,
             | zoom.earth uses Microsoft imagery so pick your poison if
             | you have issues with mega-corps with supposed privacy
             | issues.
        
           | dtgriscom wrote:
           | I'm spoiled; I'm disappointed when I go into 3D mode and the
           | structures don't rise above the ground.
        
         | 41b696ef1113 wrote:
         | I would love to know an estimate on what annual upkeep would
         | cost you. For all I know, it costs $200k annually just to keep
         | it from flooding.
        
           | geekamongus wrote:
           | Maybe you could get the Flex Seal guy to do his next
           | commercial there and seal it for free.
        
         | khuey wrote:
         | I suspect they didn't change the terms when they marked it down
         | by nearly 2/3rds.
        
         | nostrademons wrote:
         | For the price of a down payment on a small Silicon Valley home,
         | you too could own a 36-acre missile site!
        
         | sandworm101 wrote:
         | >> now what school district it is in, and how close to downtown
         | and other activity centers.
         | 
         | It is a missile silo. They didn't put those things close to
         | city hall. According to GoogleMaps it appears to be about a
         | kilometre from Nekoma, a town of 50 that may or may not have a
         | school. The next town is Langdon, ~2000 people 30km away. Your
         | choice of schools and/or coffee shops might be limited.
         | 
         | Lol. The nearest Tesla supercharger is in 85km away ... in
         | Canada. The nearest US charger is in Fargo, 200km away. Nearest
         | starbucks is 100km. But given that the roads all go north-south
         | or east-west, I would add about 50% to those numbers for
         | driving distance. If there is a nowhere, this is the middle.
        
           | HWR_14 wrote:
           | > may or may not have a school.
           | 
           | The listings was very clear:about whats around them "Langdon,
           | _9 miles_ [about 15km] Amenities: grocery store, gas
           | stations, _school district_ , ... "
        
             | sandworm101 wrote:
             | I did not say that Langdon did not have a school. The
             | sentence you quote is about Nekoma, the town immediately
             | beside the listed property, which at 50 people is clearly
             | so small as to likely not have any formal school.
             | 
             | "School district" is also very different than "school".
             | Being in a district means that you are in a _district that
             | has school_ not that that school is anywhere nearby. It may
             | be a long bus ride every day. Being in a district only
             | means you will not have to home school your kids. And
             | Langdon has _one_ highschool. Choices are therefore very
             | limited.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langdon,_North_Dakota
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | The day I decide where to live based on nearest Starbucks,
           | please, just shoot me.
        
             | twothamendment wrote:
             | When moving, there is nothing wrong with checking out how
             | far away Starbucks is. It worked for me and it is far...
        
             | batuhanicoz wrote:
             | Amount of nearby Starbucks branches around was a
             | consideration for me when I picked my last flat.
             | 
             | This is not for the occasional Frappuccino but as a simple
             | indicator how popular a particular neighborhood is. It also
             | tells some, but not much, about the demography too.
             | 
             | Starbucks is also one of the cheapest places you can get
             | coffee/sweet drinks in my city so it's nice to have some
             | around ^^
        
               | sandworm101 wrote:
               | Cheapest? The one Starbucks within 50 miles of me is the
               | _most_ expensive place for coffee.
        
               | batuhanicoz wrote:
               | I live in an arguably upper middle class neighborhood of
               | Istanbul, one of the biggest metropolitan cities in the
               | world.
               | 
               | Most coffee shops around me are fancy third wave shops,
               | making Starbucks a cheap choice. I'm sure I can find a
               | cheaper places couple neighborhoods away but streets are
               | not flat, traffic is always terrible and dangerous for
               | pedestrians.
               | 
               | I checked out of curiosity and we have more than 200
               | branches within 50 miles of me.
        
           | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
           | Nike facilities were built close to residential areas in the
           | northeast. Sprint is not an ICBM either. It's an ABM and not
           | such a massive rocket that it would need a large safety zone
           | around the launch site.
        
             | sandworm101 wrote:
             | The safety zone isn't to protect against the missile
             | exploding. It is to keep the facility far enough away from
             | the likely targets of incoming warheads that they could
             | differentiate warheads from decoys. (As warheads enter the
             | atmosphere the lighter decoys fall away. You want to be at
             | 90* to the warhead flight path to best see this.) Some site
             | were indeed near residential areas in other parts of the
             | country but those were not protecting suburbs. They were
             | protecting more distant targets: population centres and
             | military facilities.
        
               | dtgriscom wrote:
               | Is that describing the best spot for the interceptor
               | itself, or the radar guiding the interceptor? (Not
               | necessarily at the same site, and I can imaging reasons
               | why separate sites would be better.)
        
               | ghaff wrote:
               | It probably depended on the geography. I know in the case
               | of the site in Golden Gate Recreational Area, the (Nike
               | not Sprint) interceptor site is/was near the fort there.
               | The control and radar systems (which have been at least
               | partly brought down) were originally on a hill
               | overlooking the site. I don't know if the control/radar
               | system also controlled other interceptor sites or not.
        
               | sandworm101 wrote:
               | In the days before perfect network connectivity? Both.
               | There are also time delay issues. You want the sensor
               | (radar) the 'computer' and the launch site all close
               | together so they can coordinate the intercept without
               | communication delays, without long radio links that are
               | likely useless during nuclear war.
               | 
               | Sprint was meant for raw speed. It famously accelerated
               | at like 100g. The shortest intercept is one that is
               | launched perpendicular to the incoming warhead. The
               | interceptor goes out vertical as the enemy warhead is
               | coming in more horizontal on its way to the city 400km
               | down the road from the interceptor base.
        
             | ghaff wrote:
             | I grew up literally next door to one about 20 miles west of
             | Philadelphia. Most of the Nike sites are just ruins at this
             | point like the one on Angel Island but there's one just
             | over the Golden Gate from SF that's the most fully restored
             | site in the US and gives tours.
             | https://www.nps.gov/goga/nike-missile-site.htm
             | 
             | They initially had conventional warheads as I recall and
             | they were primarily intended as bomber defense. They'd
             | explode a warhead above a flight of bombers so they'd be
             | hit by a massive shock wave.
        
               | mikewarot wrote:
               | Eventually, Nike missiles had a selectable yield nuclear
               | warhead. The first salvo was set to intercept at 90 miles
               | away, with 40 Kiloton of yield. The next was 45 miles
               | away, and 20 Kiloton, and the "Hail Mary" was directly
               | overhead, with 2 Kiloton yield.
        
         | EMM_386 wrote:
         | > I'm not seeing an address for the site. I need to know what
         | school district it is in, and how close to downtown and other
         | activity centers. Maybe that helps explain the $50k wiggle
         | room?
         | 
         | Some of that information is on the site.
         | 
         | Langdon, 9 miles Amenities: grocery store, gas stations, school
         | district, multiple banks, shopping, drug store, building
         | supplies, hardware store, hotels, movie theater
         | 
         | Winkler, Manitoba, 45 min Amenities: chain restaraunts and
         | stores including Wal-Mart
         | 
         | Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1.5 hours Amenities: large metro city with
         | many cultural attractions
         | 
         | Grand Forks, ND, 2 hours Amenities: large metro city with many
         | cultural attractions
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | To be honest, I was just being cute with the school
           | district/amenities. What I really want to do is use the
           | address to look it up on a light pollution map to see about
           | using for an astronomy site.
        
             | techzerd wrote:
             | Funny
        
       | gpsx wrote:
       | What is the zoning? Can you use the land for anything other than
       | a ABM site? /s
        
       | alangibson wrote:
       | My personal favorite missile. Add some Sprint replicas and this
       | would make a cool, if entirely impractical, manspace.
        
         | nix23 wrote:
         | Sorry for being downvoted for the "Manspace"-word. SJW in full
         | swing here at HN.
         | 
         | BTW: Fill the Rockets with different brands of beer, and have
         | your retractable Beer-Fridge-Rockets, spot on practical.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | Rocket fuel has always been some sort of shot vs beer though,
           | hasn't it?
           | 
           | https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rocket+fuel+shot&t=hx&va=g&ia=web
        
             | nix23 wrote:
             | Haha did not know that...it's a heavens match then ;)
        
         | coding123 wrote:
         | Who has a favorite "missile". seriously?
        
           | VelkaMorava wrote:
           | That's what you get when your social security and education
           | policy is Hunger Games equivalent in the Middle East.
           | Exporting democracy one bomb at a time.
        
           | analognoise wrote:
           | Mine is the R9X "Flying Ginsu"
           | 
           | It's a Hellfire modified to deploy effectively big swords as
           | it closes in, so it only shreds people within 4ft or so of
           | the target.
           | 
           | https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-u-s-missile-aims-to-
           | kill...
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | Mine's the sidewinder.
        
             | cronix wrote:
             | Mine is the Minuteman II ICBM from the late 60's. My father
             | launched one, as a test, but he didn't know it was a test
             | at the time. They got orders, they launched. I have a
             | beautiful large color photo of the one he launched coming
             | out of the ground, and the key he turned mounted on a USAF
             | plaque. The teeth were filed off though. He said the
             | beginning of the movie War Games (missile silo scene) was
             | the most accurate depiction of his job that he'd seen.
        
               | nix23 wrote:
               | Maverick and Exocet for me...well and the R-36M, but that
               | one is just a bit too terrifying.
        
               | alangibson wrote:
               | R-36M aka SS-18 Satan. The name says it all.
        
               | oxfeed65261 wrote:
               | I have no favorite missle--maybe the Phoenix if I were
               | pressed--but I do have a scary-nightmare-clown missle,
               | and it is the Exocet.
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | Why do all the coolest missiles has its own GRAU index
               | number? R-36's _ploop_ _pow_ _pow_ _pow_ is too Gundam,
               | and so is P-800 Onyx /BrahMos, with its VLS launch and
               | RCS tipover followed by IRR transition. It sounds cool
               | already just sprinkling these TLAs.
        
           | perryizgr8 wrote:
           | I really think most people do. Mine is the brahmos.
        
       | cma wrote:
       | These feel like some of the most likely places to get nuked if an
       | old system accidentally goes off.
        
         | alangibson wrote:
         | I wonder if there are equivalents of missilebaseforsale.com for
         | the former Soviet Union
        
           | dogma1138 wrote:
           | Im sure there is the difference is that they probably sell
           | the missiles too...
        
             | bequanna wrote:
             | Possibly, but you're likely buying it "as-is".
             | 
             | I believe Elon tried to purchase a rocket from Russia many
             | years ago and even travelled there to meet with people who
             | claimed to be able to broker a sale.
        
           | bserge wrote:
           | You got me wondering and I could not find anything with a
           | quick Google search.
           | 
           | Apparently personal bunkers weren't popular even during the
           | Cold War.
           | 
           | https://vc.ru/story/139377-mesto-gde-mozhno-spryatatsya-
           | skol...
           | 
           | It may be that people just didn't have the money for this
           | kind of stuff and oligarchs would rather build castles that
           | no one knows about than buy old bunkers (which would be in
           | way worse shape in ex USSR I imagine).
        
             | lumost wrote:
             | Bunkers aren't that great for long term survival. You're
             | effectively betting that you can survive in a small
             | isolated prison for N years to emerge without resources or
             | the ability to feed yourself. You are also betting that the
             | underground structure isn't going to need maintenance in
             | those N years, and that you won't simply be viewed as a
             | resource cache by whoever is still on the surface.
             | 
             | Now if we start talking about remote bunkers far away from
             | cities - you start also asking the question of why you
             | would need a bunker! If you build an off grid house in
             | Whistler BC you are highly unlikely to be targeted by a
             | nuke, or be in the fallout zone of any nukes. Rural east
             | coast and southeastern US are also great options. You can
             | even set up a plan for a permanent farming installation in
             | the event of a disaster.
        
               | ramesh31 wrote:
               | >If you build an off grid house in Whistler BC you are
               | highly unlikely to be targeted by a nuke, or be in the
               | fallout zone of any nukes. Rural east coast and
               | southeastern US are also great options. You can even set
               | up a plan for a permanent farming installation in the
               | event of a disaster.
               | 
               | You'll still just be a resource cache for whatever
               | roaming bands of anarchic clans that develop amidst the
               | fallout. And subsistence farming is a complete fantasy;
               | you'll starve very quickly. The only survival scenario
               | that is realistic in an apocalyptic world is one built
               | around trade, alliances, and firepower. Feudalism,
               | essentially. Anyone who thinks they'll be able to go
               | their own way and remain hidden will be the first ones
               | killed off.
        
               | TheOtherHobbes wrote:
               | Something something New Zealand.
               | 
               | Which sounds good until you need a dentist or doctor and
               | you discover you forgot to bring a surgery and/or
               | hospital.
               | 
               | Or a vet. Or spare parts. Or tools/medications you don't
               | already have.
               | 
               | Or any essential consumable that has a shelf life of (if
               | you're lucky...) less than fifty years.
        
               | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
               | This family did it for 40 years. Not a bad run:
               | 
               | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/for-40-years-this-
               | rus...
        
               | drran wrote:
               | Long term survival requires short term survival first.
               | Bunkers are great for short term survival.
        
               | lumost wrote:
               | If surviving a nuclear Holocaust is in your priority
               | list, then it's much cheaper and more effective to move
               | somewhere far away from the blasts and fallout.
               | 
               | E.g. live far away from miltary installations, keep a
               | reasonable distance from metros, and avoid any place
               | between the Appalachian mountains and the Sierra Nevada
               | mountains (due to fallout).
        
             | katmannthree wrote:
             | I think they had plenty of government bunkers, even if
             | there weren't many personal ones. There are some pretty
             | interesting videos of urban explorers going through them:
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKWFx0QAW2w
        
         | post_break wrote:
         | Maybe, but I feel like there has to be a whole team dedicated
         | to looking where to bomb as to not waste them on targets that
         | are no longer operational.
        
         | mclightning wrote:
         | That's what I thought first too. Rather, it doesn't have to be
         | an old system but it can be spotted as an active missile
         | launcher site by visual survillance.
        
         | meowster wrote:
         | Maybe someone adventurous could reach out to the Russian
         | government and request that the site be taken off any lists
         | that may or may not exist, and invite them to their
         | housewarming party?
         | 
         | Though Russia seems like a country that would say "sure" then
         | add it to the list if it wasn't already just as a joke.
         | 
         | Though China might just nuke the site just to be sure.
        
           | IIAOPSW wrote:
           | China isn't going to waste 1 of their 400 shots and abandon
           | the no-first-use doctrine over something so minuscule.
           | 
           | Look it up. The US/Soviet missile pissing contest completely
           | dwarfs every other nation, even after various disarmament
           | treaties. Russia still has the most.
        
             | snet0 wrote:
             | You're saying that China _won 't_ launch a nuclear first
             | strike against an unused silo based on a joking email?
             | Interesting commentary.
        
       | cushychicken wrote:
       | Buyer beware: lots of ICBM fuel is toxic. Due to poor containment
       | practices, many former missile sites are now borderline superfund
       | sites due to fuel that's leaked into the ground.
        
         | philipkglass wrote:
         | The Sprint missile was solid fueled. It couldn't leak fuel.
        
           | cushychicken wrote:
           | Ah, OK. I'm thinking of Titan, which was liquid fueled by
           | some _truly nasty_ chemicals:
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-25C_Titan_II#Development
        
             | baybal2 wrote:
             | Hydrazine would've long decomposed since upon air exposure
        
               | nitrogen wrote:
               | Depending on how much soaked into concrete and other
               | materials, couldn't there still be outgassing?
        
         | pinewurst wrote:
         | Title is wrong - Sprint was a solid fueled ABM that was
         | activated for only a few months (at most) before
         | decommissioning.
        
           | FabHK wrote:
           | Anti-ballistic missile, in case you didn't know (like me).
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-ballistic_missile
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | I guess it's a good thing this wasn't an ICBM then, eh?
        
       | ucarion wrote:
       | It's an (old) ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile), not ICBM
       | (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) silo. ABMs shoot down
       | incoming ICBMs.
        
         | HWR_14 wrote:
         | So if I live there, I'll be able to survive the upcoming
         | (eventual) nuclear war due to my own ICBM defense system!
        
           | ucarion wrote:
           | Living in the middle of nowhere is probably a better survival
           | strategy, FWIW. In the event that the US is attacked, ICBM
           | silos act as a nuclear sponge -- things adversaries have to
           | blow up, lest we fire back using them. ABMs are targets too,
           | because they enhance the sponge.
           | 
           | So living far from silos (and their command centers), and far
           | from the large cities that the sponge protects, is a better
           | survival strategy. :)
        
       | Phil987 wrote:
       | Anybody know of a good website to that lists these sort of
       | properties for sale? (Not just old missile bases, but other old
       | government infrastructure)
        
         | anm89 wrote:
         | https://circaoldhouses.com/churches-lighthouses-quirky-conve...
         | 
         | Circa has a site for quirky conversion listings
        
           | Phil987 wrote:
           | Thank you, this is awesome. This made me realize that I was
           | really just interested in these types of homes, not just old
           | gov't stuff.
        
             | anm89 wrote:
             | Yeah there's a whole world of these weird listings. If you
             | like this kind of stuff send me a direct message and I'll
             | show you a cool one which is my own property which I just
             | signed a contract for sale, a big old church
        
       | pjmorris wrote:
       | Could this be set up as the level from Goldeneye, maybe turn the
       | place into a theme park?
        
         | Rebelgecko wrote:
         | After seeing how the listing makes a big deal about how it's a
         | mere 2 hours from the bustling metropolis of Grand Forks, I
         | think the location might be a bit of an issue
        
         | dharmab wrote:
         | Rent it out for milsim events
        
       | czhu12 wrote:
       | I wonder how something like this could be used in practice in the
       | event of a societal collapse. Who will be the governing body to
       | protect your rights to this site, even if you did own it?
        
       | mjreacher wrote:
       | Here's a 6 minute video explaining the sprint missile for those
       | unaware and interested (rather fascinating technology for the
       | 70s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dl9Ovwmnxw
        
         | zerocount wrote:
         | It'd be a great video if not for the robot narration voice. I
         | wish people would just read it themselves. I couldn't watch it
         | with that voice talking.
        
           | dtgriscom wrote:
           | I believe it's actually a person who doesn't believe in
           | intonation.
        
         | adriand wrote:
         | Very fascinating and some truly stunning footage. What I can't
         | help thinking about viewing this marvel of technology is what
         | humanity might have achieved if the prodigious efforts and
         | staggering sums that went into the Cold War arms race went into
         | making the world a better place...really, as amazing as this
         | is, it was ultimately a tremendous waste.
        
           | 737min wrote:
           | Avoiding war is never a waste and overall technological
           | progress was faster during the Cold War..
        
           | avalys wrote:
           | They did make the world a better place, winning the Cold War
           | dealt a huge blow to totalitarian communist ideology
           | everywhere and many free societies replaced the old Soviet
           | States.
        
             | eschaton wrote:
             | Just look at what the fall of the USSR did for life
             | expectancies there!
        
               | baybal2 wrote:
               | It actually went, as it was found that union's
               | demographic statistics was all forged perpetually since
               | Stalin
        
               | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
               | Forged statistics or not, at least there are not millions
               | being starved to death, sent to gulags, or relocated
               | against their will.
        
               | madengr wrote:
               | Well I'd rather die from smoking or drinking than in a
               | gulag.
        
             | madengr wrote:
             | This is HN, thus saying anything critical of socialism,
             | Marxism, or communism will get you downvoted or banned (by
             | someone with a 6 figure salary smacking their thumbs on the
             | latest gadget).
        
         | robocat wrote:
         | Skip first two minutes.
         | 
         | After that has a good mixture of technical and political
         | limitations.
        
         | jcims wrote:
         | That's honestly why I clicked on the article, it's actually an
         | ABM (anti-ballistic missle)
         | 
         | For those that need a little teaser to be incentivized to click
         | on the YouTube link, here's the title of the video 'Super
         | Pointy Sprint Missile - 0 to Mach 10 in 15 Seconds - 100Gs &
         | 6000degF'
         | 
         | If you have any interest in aerospace at all and have never
         | heard of the Sprint, take a gander, it's a spectacular edge
         | case in engineering.
        
         | jvilalta wrote:
         | "it glows white as it flies". Wow.
        
       | KallDrexx wrote:
       | I was really confused why a Telecom owned a missile site for way
       | too long....
        
         | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
         | Bell Labs did many, many more things than telecom.
        
       | andrewmcwatters wrote:
       | I'm tired of looking for bunkers to purchase and the sellers not
       | including any anti-ballistic missile technology along with the
       | purchase.
       | 
       | I mean when you buy a house with a pool are you expecting any of
       | the pool hardware to be removed? No.
       | 
       | It's so inconsiderate. How am I supposed to establish my own
       | sovereignty over my neighbors without missile tech? Do you know
       | how much of a hassle it is to source ballistics?
       | 
       | You think to yourself, "Wow! What a steal on a bunker!" And then
       | you realize the price drop is because they've moved out all of
       | the military hardware. What shysters.
       | 
       | First, my HOA says I can't land my Apache right next to my
       | bunker, and that it needs to be in its own field. Then, they say
       | I can only transport warheads in the evening.
       | 
       | It's a national tragedy and it needs to stop.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | PaulHoule wrote:
       | It's not just hardened against blast overpressure, it is hardened
       | against the electromagnetic pulse created by the Sprint and
       | Spartan ABM warhead...
       | 
       | Or at least it used to be, EMP proofing takes maintenance.
       | 
       | That kind of system risks blinding and discombobulating itself as
       | soon as it takes its first shot.
        
         | baybal2 wrote:
         | > EMP proofing takes maintenance.
         | 
         | ??????
        
           | exhilaration wrote:
           | I'm assuming that the copper EMP shielding tends to corrode
           | without regular maintenance. The listing mentions there was
           | very high humidity in there, I bet it did a number on the
           | copper.
        
         | TMWNN wrote:
         | >It's not just hardened against blast overpressure, it is
         | hardened against the electromagnetic pulse created by the
         | Sprint and Spartan ABM warhead...
         | 
         | Does this mean that cell phones won't work? (Aside from being
         | underground.)
        
       | artur_makly wrote:
       | The marble kitchenette alone is worth the price.
        
       | baybal2 wrote:
       | I was very surprised to know that US ICBM sites in Dakotas are so
       | poorly guarded.
       | 
       | Russian ICBM sites are all in the middle of nowhere, and are tiny
       | fortresses
        
         | chipsa wrote:
         | The idea isn't have a guard over each silo. Just make it hard
         | to get into a silo and send guards over if you need to.
        
       | coldcode wrote:
       | Without the missile I am not moved by the price decrease.
        
       | Railsify wrote:
       | Check out the Death Wears Bunny Slippers Youtube channel. This
       | guy and his family buy a site like this a refit it into a
       | vacation home:
       | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd50A5qLv8FemVufSvDgkCQ
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-08-28 23:02 UTC)