Missile Alert Facility H1 Parshall, North Dakota

This is a launch control facility for a cluster of local intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). There are 450 Minuteman III ICBMs in 450 active silos in the USA, constituting the nation’s fleet of land based intercontinental ballistic missiles, in fixed silos (down from twice that amount a few decades ago). Each silo is in an isolated and fenced small lot, remotely controlled, and unmanned. Individual groups of ten silos are controlled by a nearby Missile Alert Facility, which has a surface residence for the crew, a communication tower, and an underground launch control center. 15 of these Missile Alert Facilities, and the 150 silos they control, are clustered around three air force bases, which serve as maintenance and supply centers. These three bases are Minot AFB, in North Dakota; Malmstrom AFB in Montana; and Warren AFB, in Wyoming. Each launch control facility has an alpha numeric designation, in this case H1. The ten silos it controls are designated as H2 through H11, and are scattered around in the fields and farmland of region, each more than three miles from the Missile Alert Facility. Like most others, Missile Alert Facility H1 is publically visible, a few hundred yards off a public road, in this case Highway 23, five miles west of the town of Parshall.