60 Minutes Gets Exclusive Tour Of Nuclear Silo With Most Powerful Minuteman-III Missile

The Complex Is Not What You’d Think.

This short clip from a full documentary piece is really quite eye-opening. Or at least it will be for some. When thinking of the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal, many would probably think about some futuristic mission control rooms surrounded by gadgets no one has ever seen before. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Correspondent Lesly Stahl got unique access to one of the nuclear silos in Wyoming which houses one of the most powerful nukes in the world. The Minuteman III missile is 20x more powerful than Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. As you’ll hear in this clip, it’s armed and ready at all times, all the while residing in an inconspicuous field in the middle of nowhere.

The name “Minuteman” came about because these ICBMs are ready to launch at a moment’s notice.

Currently, there are an estimated 400 Minuteman-III missiles in similar silos, although that number was close to 1,000 in the 70s. As of now, the Air Force intends to keep these 45-year-old ICBMs until 2030.

Watch this short clip to see what the inside of this silo looks like. It’s a bunch of really old equipment, but for a good reason. It works, and it can’t be hacked.