Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Missile Site Control Building, Northeast of Tactical Road; southeast of Tactical Road South, Nekoma, Cavalier County, ND

Significance: It is believed that the plans for deployment and initiation of construction of this facility were instrumental in obtaining Soviet agreement to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and a subsequent decline in Cold War hostilities between the Superpowers. This structure was nuclear hardened, that is, designed to withstand a nearby nuclear blast. Both the MSR with its data processing center and its power plant were nuclear hardened. The MSR was designed to be self-contained in case of attack. The MSR was a phased array radar, its beams were steered electronically instead of using heavy moving antennas. Rather than a large dish, this radar has thousands of small antenna built into each face. The MSR had a detection range of several hundred miles. It provided more precise, close-in target data than the PAR. The MSR was to ready interceptors (Spartan and Sprint missiles) for launch and than was to guide them to intercept. The MSR had four faces allowing it to operate against attackers from any direction. A research and development version of the MSR had been built at the Kwajalein Missile Range (in the Marshall Islands). However, that version was not built partially underground like the MSR at SRMSC.

Survey number: HAER ND-9-B

Building/structure dates: 1970-1973 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1976 Subsequent Work

concrete buildings military facilities military art and science cold war nuclear weapons industry nekoma stanley stanley r mickelsen complex missile control missile site control northeast tactical tactical road tactical road south cavalier cavalier county north dakota benjamin halpern historic american engineering record christiana jackson morrison knudson and associates ralph m parsons company raytheon company james edward zielinski photo ultra high resolution high resolution power plants library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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