Is this a missile silo?Or........

As I was looking at a thread by v-type about retireing f15s here
www.abovetopsecret.com...
I clicked the link and was sent to ddale64 album where I saw this.



Is It a missile launching silo or could it be somthing else?Has anyone any ideas on what this could be?

Unfortunately ddale64 doesn't say exactly where this is.

This is a bombing target just north of Tonopah Test Range.

You can find it at:
-116.7268629776562 longitude
37.83345672858551 latitude

Thanks I thought it looked a bit big to be a silo. I thought it may have been the roof of an underground nuclear reacter but I guess I was jumping to conclusions .Thanks again Gfad

No problem.

Loads of people assume when they see it that its covering nuclear waste ( I think I made the same mistake when I first saw it) but infact the symbol on it doesnt really resemble the nuclear sign...

You can actually see the bomb craters on it when you look closely.

one thing I still don't understand though... Is this a giant concrete pad then? Wouldn't it be more suitable to draw or carve something in the dirt like many of the other targets? I mean, in reality (unless they've found ultraconcrete! :lol that target should be completely destroyed after only a few bombings.

That is a good point and to be honest I dont know the answer. Maybe they made it out of concrete for a bit of variety!

It is a large amount of concrete though, over 200m across and god knows how deep.

Also, Im not sure about this, but I dont think they use actual bombs on the targets, jsut inert ones or maybe ones that have a lesser blast. As I say Im not sure on this but it would makes sense since some of the targets in the range are fake planes constructed out of wood and such and these havnt been destroyed. Can anyone confirm what ammo they use on the targets?

Originally posted by gfad
This is a bombing target just north of Tonopah Test Range.

You can find it at:
-116.7268629776562 longitude
37.83345672858551 latitude

I was taking another look ,Do you think the bombing target could just be a front Gfad? As you say it is a large amount of concrete to just waste like this,although i know they can afford it, I would appreciate your views on this. Thanks.

A front for what? A nuclear waste dump?

Though concievable I think its highly unlikely, even the US government are very careful with their handling of nuclear waste ( in their eyes anyway ). Also would they really mark it in yellow and black for all to see? Add to that the proximity of TTR to the Yucca Mountain plant and I think its pretty unlikely.

A front for something else? An underground base? Again I think its unlikely. I hate the idea of underground bases anyway as I just dont see the point of them.

A missile silo? Unlikely, theyve never made a secret of them before so why now?

Another discussion sparked from this could also be the question of why they use these gigantic targets. Personally, I'd want my tax dollars going defense systems that could pinpoint a grain of sand in the desert rather than just round off a few calculations and hit the general vicinity of this giant symbol in the desert that easily gives me the spooks as i zoom in on it in late at night on Google Earth

Originally posted by granoladude
Another discussion sparked from this could also be the question of why they use these gigantic targets. Personally, I'd want my tax dollars going defense systems that could pinpoint a grain of sand in the desert rather than just round off a few calculations and hit the general vicinity of this giant symbol in the desert that easily gives me the spooks as i zoom in on it in late at night on Google Earth

We pride ourselves on surgical strikes but our pilots train on targets 200m across?Somethings not right here.

Another bit of info that could be thrown into this discussion and the questioning of this giant "thing", possibly made out of concrete, is that Google Earth is showing it as being roughly 3 miles from the runway nearby. I believe the airport there is the strip for Tonopah Test Range and looks to be active. Assuming this is still used, its a bit strange that we're trusting "test" weapons within 3 miles of an active runway. Of course, this could all be answered with ease of travel to the location to examine the results of the test, but why this one and why not lay in a giant concrete slab out with the dozens of other strange symbols and targets in the middle of the desert?

I'm not sure why this up for discussion yet again. It has been covered by many previous ATS threads every time someone "discovers" this "mysterious" feature at Tonopah Test Range (TTR).

This is Hard Target, just off the southern edge of Main Lake. TTR was used for testing weapon ballistics and penetrating capabilities. Hard Target is a 750-foot-diameter pad of 1-foot-thick concrete with 4,000 psi strength. It occupies 438,000 square feet.

Other targets at TTR include Main Lake, in the center of the lakebed; Rebel, a diamond-shaped target on the lakebed; Mid Target, desert turf witha checkerboard pattern of 100-foot squares; Pedro, a dry lakebed target with no specific dimensions; and Antelope, a 272,600-square-foot lakebed target.

The six permanently defined targets are spaced along a flight line through the range on a heading of 347 degrees true. Soil composition and target construction offer a variety of surface conditions including sandy soil, had-packed clay, and concrete. Gravel and rocky soil (or solid rock) are available as well.

Originally posted by Shadowhawk
I'm not sure why this up for discussion yet again. It has been covered by many previous ATS threads every time someone "discovers" this "mysterious" feature at Tonopah Test Range (TTR).

This is Hard Target, just off the southern edge of Main Lake. TTR was used for testing weapon ballistics and penetrating capabilities. Hard Target is a 750-foot-diameter pad of 1-foot-thick concrete with 4,000 psi strength. It occupies 438,000 square feet.

Other targets at TTR include Main Lake, in the center of the lakebed; Rebel, a diamond-shaped target on the lakebed; Mid Target, desert turf witha checkerboard pattern of 100-foot squares; Pedro, a dry lakebed target with no specific dimensions; and Antelope, a 272,600-square-foot lakebed target.

The six permanently defined targets are spaced along a flight line through the range on a heading of 347 degrees true. Soil composition and target construction offer a variety of surface conditions including sandy soil, had-packed clay, and concrete. Gravel and rocky soil (or solid rock) are available as well.

Thanks for the info the official explanation is very interesting but isn't 438,000 square feet a big target? dam I bet I could hit it at night with no training.

hi all , US missile silos locations are availiable via this google earth download file

hope this helps

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
hi all , US missile silos locations are availiable via this google earth download file

hope this helps

Cheers ape I mis titled this a bit a silo was my 1st impression but it is way to big for a silo ,still an interesing link thanks.

indeed thanks for the response to our questions... but one big one still remains about the use of such large targets for weapons of precision. Anyone have any ideas for this one???

438,000 square feet is just too big to train bomber pilots imo.
We now have laser guided paveways and I.R./camera missiles so whya target so big ?

Its like hitting a house with a needle from 5 yards.

Originally posted by kuhl
438,000 square feet is just too big to train bomber pilots imo.
We now have laser guided paveways and I.R./camera missiles so whya target so big ?

Its like hitting a house with a needle from 5 yards.

indeed - I'm still uncomfortable with the fact that it is so close to the large dried lake bed right near it. I mean, hypothetically, couldn't they use this lake bed for the same idea of a hard target? I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but I'm guessing the dried lake bed would not be as hard as concrete, but I don't know, so maybe it wouldn't actually work.

Another question, does that look like a runway on that dried lake just to the northwest of this target?

Because not everything can carry LGBs. There are still quite a few "dumb bombs" still in use. LGBs and JDAMs make up a very small percentage of the weapon inventory. A B-52 can carry JDAMs but still uses a large number of dumb bombs.

While dumb bombs may be cheaper should we use such weapons in todays wars with our surgical strikes?????