A decommissioned nuclear silo in Arizona which once housed the largest intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the US Air Force decades ago is being sold for $395,000 by the owner who said he was "bored".
According to a report published by The Guardian, the bunker's owner, a man named Rick Ellis, has been unable to find a buyer for the property. "[H]e said he has rejected serious offers from a buyer who wanted to turn it into a greenhouse for medical marijuana and another who planned to use it as a porn studio," he was quoted as saying to a local newspaper.
While Ellis had initially bought the silo for $200,000 in 2003 in order to turn the place into a commercial data storage centre due to the bunker ability to shield electromagnetic pulses, his plans failed due to economic recession. To have a tour of the property, interested buyers must prove they have the money to cover the cost of the property and sign a liability waiver before descending a 40ft staircase into the bunker, according to the report.
According to the 3D tour of the bunker posted by Premier Media Group, the property has original equipment such as floor-to-ceiling springs meant to absorb seismic shocks and signs that show designated smoking area. Pools of stagnant water at the entry and a 6,000lb blast door which can be closed with one hand is also seen, as per reports.
The bunker is one of the three Air Force bases in groups of 18 nuclear silos around Tucson that were operational between June 1963 into the 1980s during the Cold War. The specific bunker is most notably known for housing Titan II missiles. The warheads contained nine megatons of energy which is equivalent to have 600 times the power of Second World War "Little Boy" bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima.
The Titan II missile program was deactivated in 1982 a year after President Ronald Reagan announced plans of modernising land-based intercontinental missile programs. The Titan II complex at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base complex containing an actual Titan II training missile is open for public at the Titan Missile Museum at Sahuarita, Arizona.
