ICBM silo lights on, but no one was home

I work on a railroad that runs through the northern end of ICBM field around Great Falls, MT. Just got home from a trip last night and as we were running past the silos I noticed each of the sites had it's flood lights on. This was about midnite to 3 am.

This in itself isn't all that unusual, but every other time I've seen this it has been only one or two sites at a time, and there are always technician trucks there. (The usual dark blue airforce suburbans and trucks with trailers.)

Do you suppose Unka Sam was having a little drill to go along with the Navy exorcise in the Pacific?

Or maybe someone in DC owns stock in the electic utility and needed the stock to jump a little?

So, the entire ICBM field was just lit up?

How often does this happen?

Don't know about the WHOLE site, this covers several hundered square miles! I suppose I saw 7 or 8 silos lit up. Never have seen that many at once in the 15 years I've worked that run.

Thats weird, when the lights are on and the trucks are there what are they generally doing?

Oh, I'm sure maintenance and equipment repairs and stuff. ICBMs are just machines after all.

We see the trucks and suburbans fairly frequently. Maybe once a month or so at each silo. But last night there was no one around any of the silos. Maybe they were testing some cameras or something.

Usually the maintenance is done during the day, for obvious reasons, I suppose.

Not too long ago We got to see them in the process of pulling a missile from one of the silos as we went by. Great big Semi and trailer. Kinda cool.



[edit on 7/8/2004 by Montana]

I was kind of hoping someone would have an idea of what was happening, I have a bet going with my engineer.

Originally posted by Montana
I was kind of hoping someone would have an idea of what was happening, I have a bet going with my engineer.

Could have been a security drill, most liely they were doing maintnece and somebody decided that the needed the whole compund lit.

Alright, I'm going way out on a limb here, but maybe it had something to do with nuclear disarmament/limitation treaties? Perhaps they had to light the silos up for an overhead Russian satellite pass? I haven't looked into the details of the SALT and START treaties, but perhaps someone here could shed light on this possiblity?

Other than that, I couldn't see a reason for them to turn the lights on unless there was going to be personnel around. Another possibility could be security concerns, maybe a perimeter sensor was tripped. Or, maybe there was an inspection going on and you just didn't see the personnel.

There are lots of possibilities, very few of which are cause to worry.

Oh, I'm not TOO worried!!

My engr is betting on the power company bit, and I'm thinking it might be part of that Pacific exorcise.....

Thought maybe someone in the AF might know if a big one was going on.

Originally posted by PurdueNuc
Alright, I'm going way out on a limb here, but maybe it had something to do with nuclear disarmament/limitation treaties? Perhaps they had to light the silos up for an overhead Russian satellite pass? I haven't looked into the details of the SALT and START treaties, but perhaps someone here could shed light on this possiblity?

Good thought, but why not do it during the day?

A satellite pass would only take minutes, also. wouldn't make sense to leave the lights on all night in my opinion. But then it is the government.

Originally posted by Montana
Don't know about the WHOLE site, this covers several hundered square miles!

these cover more than hundreds of square miles

Originally posted by Montana
I was kind of hoping someone would have an idea of what was happening, I have a bet going with my engineer.

im a missle guy for the air force, well soon to be missile guy. anyways they might of been having a drill or something, maybe they were doing a teat on a new orbiting spy satelite to see if it would work or something like that. maybe just testing the lights. by the way that big semi think you saw is what they use to take out/ put in ICBMs. that usually for the mech guys though. us electricians work on em while they are in the silos.


oh and the reason that you didnt see any personel is that there are rooms under ground that are part of the silos too

[edit on 7-10-2004 by KrazyIvan]

I understand the rooms under ground for the techs to be in, but the standard practice I have observed leaves at least one rig above ground, just inside the gate.

Again, I'm no expert, but what new generation satellite would require VISIBLE light? Sounds very un-techie to me.

Probably some security guard was around or had been and they forgot to switch off the lights.These bases when on alert will operate in total darkness and without the need for personnel to be above ground.Probably just human error on the part of the guy responsible for the light button

My guess is that the Flight Security Chief had the lights turned on at several or all of the sites in his flight so that he could see if they still worked. The flight security chief will check all 10 sites in his flight at least once a day or at the begining of his shift. Back in July 1998 I was up in the Papa and Quebec flight areas and the floodlights were on at all the sites, this was around 10 am.