Silver Creek Communications Annex was a 373.7 meters (1226 ft) tall

guyed mast A guyed mast is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground or a base) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not have the ...

used by the USAF Survivable Low Frequency Communications System Site, which was built near Silver Creek,

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

at . Detachment 1, 33d Communications Squadron, 1st Aerospace Communications Group (later 55th Communications Group) out of

Offutt AFB Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base south of Omaha, adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), the 557th Weather Wing, and the 55th Wing (55 WG) of the ...

, ran the site until its inactivation.

History

The SAC SLFCS site at Silver Creek was built as a project assigned to the 32d Communications Squadron. The site was accepted by Headquarters USAF on 29 July 1968, and was activated for continuous operations on 19 August 1968. on 5 September 1968, operational testing began at Silver Creek.

Facility

Silver Creek's radio tower was a mast radiator insulated against ground, which provided

VLF Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave ...

communication to ground and mobile

nuclear missile Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. All nine nuclear states have developed some form of medium- to long-range delivery system for their nuc ...

facilities during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. It transmitted at a maximum power of 110 kW. The facility was partially built into the ground and was designed to withstand a moderate nuclear blast from a distance of . The facility was self-sustaining and employed a sophisticated ventilation system as well as backup diesel generators.Air Force Historical Research Agency: "History of the 3902d Air Base Wing", October - December 1969

References

{{Commons, Survivable Low Frequency Communications System Towers in Nebraska United States nuclear command and control Former radio masts and towers Radio masts and towers in the United States 1968 establishments in Nebraska 1995 disestablishments in Nebraska Buildings and structures in Merrick County, Nebraska Towers completed in 1968

History

Facility

See also

References