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NORAD & Cheyenne Mountain Op Center
In the midst of the beautiful Rocky Mountains lies Cheyenne Mountain. Cheyenne Mountain houses NORAD & the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is an organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning and aerospace control for North America. Aerospace warning includes the monitoring of man-made objects in space, and the detection, validation, and warning of attack against The United States and Canada by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles. This is one of the many organizations located inside the Cheyenne Mountain Air Station.
Since the end of the Cold War, activities at Cheyenne Mountain have not diminished, but have in fact matched the evolving realities of the changing world. The original NORAD Combat Operations Center (COC) has evolved into the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC), and is currently undergoing a transformation in to the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate (CMD) of NORAD-USNORTHCOM.
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Today, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex is known as Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station (CMAFS). CMAFS is host to four commands: North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), and Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). CMOC serves as the command center for both NORAD and USNORTHCOM. It is the central collection and coordination center for a worldwide system of satellites, radars, and sensors that provide early warning of any missile, air, or space threat to North America.
CMD is truly one of the most unique installations in the world. Apart from the fact that it is housed 2,000 feet underground, CMD is also different from most military units because it’s a joint and bi-national military organization comprised of over 200 professional men and women from the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Canadian Forces. Operations are conducted in seven centers manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The centers are the Air Warning Center, Missile Correlation Center, Space Control Center, Operational Intelligence Watch, Systems Center, Weather Center, and the Command Center.
The Operations Center itself lies along one side of a main tunnel bored almost a mile through the solid granite heart of the mountain. The tunnel is designed to route the worst of a blast's shock wave out the other end, past the two 25-ton blast doors that mark one wall. The center was designed to withstand up to a 30 megaton blast within 1 nautical mile.
Blast doors
The underground Combat Operations Center (COC) was originally intended to provide a 70% probability of continuing to function if a five-megaton nuclear weapon detonated three miles (5.6 km) away, but was ultimately built to withstand a multimegaton blast within 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km). It was also designed to be self-sufficient for brief periods, have backup communications and television intercom with related commands, house personnel during an emergency, and protect staff against fallout and biological and chemical warfare.
 
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