For those of us who grew up in the Southwestern and West-central regions of Missouri during the Cold War, the possibility of nuclear annihilation was an unnerving constant as 150 silos such as this one were scattered in an arc across the region, with the majority being closer to the Kansas border.
While this is a dramatic example due to the missile itself is being installed, the small square area of a silo's location marked with its ubiquitous 12-15 ft high chain-linked fence were/are not hidden. They seemed to randomly appear and are/were a common occurrence while driving through this rural area.
Today, some have been abandoned due to various treaties, while others have had their missiles removed and replaced with updated versions.
The example depicted here carried multiple nuclear warheads with a very high rate of accuracy of over 8,000 miles. After reentering the Earth's atmosphere, each warhead would be traveling at around 15,000 miles per hour at detonation. -courtesy Jason Stump
Read more about Minuteman Missiles in Bates County here https://batescountynewswire.blogspot.com/p/history-of-bates-county-articles.html
