The Pentagon Had A Plan to Build A 'Super-ICBM' That Could Carry 20 Nuclear Warheads

Dave Mujumdar, National Interest: The U.S. Military Came Up with a Crazy Idea to Make Sure Its Nukes Survived a Russian Attack

The Cold War arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union produced many innovative ideas on how best to ensure the survivability of each side’s nuclear deterrent.

Among the stranger ideas that emerged was a concept proposed by what was then the Aerospace Corporation under a program called Golden Arrow—launched in 1964. While most concepts being studied at the time looked at mobility, one of Aerospace Corporation’s concepts was to essentially hollow-out a mountain in the Sierra Nevada range to create a super-hardened fortress that could ride out a Soviet nuclear first strike and deliver an assured retaliatory second strike. The concept never got off the drawing board, but many of the ideas were later considered for the subsequent MX program.

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WNU Editor: This is one Pentagon program we should be grateful never got off the ground.