[CPEO-MEF] FORMER SITES, MISSILES: Titan II Missile Interpretive Site, Ironwood Forest National Monument, AZ

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[There is no indication in this report that the Interpretive Site present information about environmental contamination at Cold War missile sites.  - LS]

BLM HELPS DEDICATE MISSILE INTERPRETIVE SITE

by June Lowery
Gila District Public Affairs Officer, Bureau of Land Management 
December 22, 2106

A feeling of nostalgia and pride was in the air as BLM Arizona and U.S. Air Force (USAF) staff, along with approximately 40 guests, gathered against the unique and beautiful desert backdrop of the Ironwood Forest National Monument (IFNM) to celebrate the newly installed Titan II Missile Interpretive Site.  The interpretive site is all that remains of this site, one of 54 Titan II missile sites that were spread across the country from 1963 to 1987. 

The military developed the Titan II Missile program as a deterrent weapons system during the Cold War to protect the country from nuclear attack.  The missiles were the largest ever deployed in the U.S., had the capability of decimating 900 square miles, could launch in 58 seconds and reach their target in 30 minutes.  Yvonne Morris, the Titan Missile Museum Director, shared the Titan II Missile Program’s history during her keynote address.  Morris served as a Titan II Missile Combat Crew Commander at the Marana, Arizona, site during its operational years and related, “The mission was peace through deterrence, having to launch would have been viewed as a failure.”  

...

For the entire release, see
http://mypubliclands.tumblr.com/TitanIIMissile

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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