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The deployment area of the complex covered the Minuteman launchers of the 321st Strategic Missile Wing, based at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. [citation needed], The issue came to a head at a meeting outside Boston, when an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 people showed up to express their displeasure in spite of a raging blizzard. Montana State University PO Box 172660 Bozeman, MT 59717-2660 Telephone: (406) 994-6650 Fax: (406) 994-1972 Email. Construction of the Montana site began in 1968 with a total estimated cost of $64 million (or $386 million in 2018) and utilize 9,000 people on hand in construction in 1972 and 4,000 later in development. 406-521-0367. However, on 2 October 1975, the House of Representatives voted to decommission the project, after they deemed it ineffective. Among these, the idea of a heavyweight Nike-X-like system was considered, but Defense Secretary Melvin Laird apparently came to the same conclusion as McNamara before him, stating that the protection the system offered simply didn't justify the cost; When you are looking toward city defense, it needs to be a perfect or near perfect system because, as I examined the possibility of even a thick defense of cities, I have found that even the most optimistic projections, considering the highest development of the art, would mean that we would still lose 30 million to 40 million lives[4]. This complex was known as the Safeguard Program famously, it was only fully operational for a single day before the House of Representatives voted to have it decommissioned. As far as Im concerned they should re-open it and let the world we are ready. He found more fair a telephone company's price of $833 for the 3.6 acres of his land it needed. Login. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex; Vigilant and Invincible by Colonel Stephen P. Moellerf ADA (Air Defense Artillery) Magazine May-June 1995. Today, the concrete building provides a wonderful opportunity for graffiti artists. 2023 www.greatfallstribune.com. A full-scale attack by the Soviets would easily . The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex (SRMSC) was a cluster of military facilities near Langdon, North Dakota, that supported the United States Army's Safeguard anti-ballistic missile program. The Schutter Diagnostic Laboratory (SDL) at Montana State University (MSU) is provided as a service to the citizens of Montana for plant pest identification and integrated pest management education. The Montana complex was only 10% complete by this time and further efforts were redirected to the North Dakota complex since it was further along. It will continue to slowly crumble on the Montana plains, far away from civilization. Then while in the mid-course phase, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radars in the far north would detect the incoming warheads. Went by there many many times! The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, nestled along North Dakota's remote northern border, is one of America's most fascinating examples of military waste. The Pentagon has always been great at wasting money, but its rare that they leave behind something so strange and beautiful. The remains of the Perimeter Acquisition Radar site, east of Ledger, a relic of the Cold War. This meant that much smaller rockets could carry these new warheads to the same range, greatly reducing the cost of the missile, making them far cheaper than bombers or any other delivery system. The Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, nestled along North Dakotas remote northern border, is one of Americas most fascinating examples of military waste. The Senate concurred 48 days later, and the base was officially shut down on February 10th, 1976. It was calculated that an attack of only four missiles arriving within one minute would allow one of the warheads to pass by while the system was busy attacking others, making it relatively easy to attack the Zeus base. 406-748-3182. The new owner is the Spring Creek Hutterite Colony of Forbes, ND. The Montana site was abandoned with the primary radar partially completed. safeguard montana complex. From the outset it looks like a massive concrete pyramid, flanked by smaller structures. Safeguard Montana Complex (Malmstrom AFB) The SALT I ABM treaty signed in Moscow on 26 May 1972 was of immense consequence for Safeguard, and its effects were felt immediately. Filmed on Aug 15th,. [3] Safeguard was planned for several sites within the United States, but only one was completed. Type: Building. CONRAD, MT, 59456 US / MT. The Safeguard system consisted of several primary components, the Perimeter Acquisition Radar, the Missile Site Radar, the Spartan missile launchers, co-located Sprint missile launchers, and Remote Sprint missile launchers. Desiring to destroy the missile before it was below 20,000 feet (6.1km) altitude, combined with the 5 miles (8.0km) per second terminal speed of the RV meant there were only 2 to 3 seconds to develop a track and shoot the interceptor. It was only 10% complete at . With Congressional debate and votes throughout the summer of 1969 threatening to . Remnants of the Montana PAR site are located east of Conrad, Montana, at .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}481715.83N 1112032.39W / 48.2877306N 111.3423306W / 48.2877306; -111.3423306. It was designed to protect U.S. ICBM sites from counterforce attack, thus preserving the option of a retaliatory second strike. However, they disagreed with the concept of a light city defense as well. The Spartan carried a weapon with a 5 megatons of TNT (21PJ) yield; the Sprint in the 1 kiloton of TNT (4.2TJ) range. Both missiles used nuclear warheads, and they relied on destroying or damaging the incoming warhead with radiation rather than heat or blast. All missiles were held in underground launch silos. I graduated from Columbus, ND in 1951, so North Dakota is my state. A winning bid of $530,000. Two radar sites were intended to be constructed on the northern border of the United States, one in Montana and one in North Dakota. 2. As the warheads approached (but while still in outer space) the Safeguard long-range radar (called the Perimeter Acquisition Radar, or PAR) would detect them, providing filtered information to the shorter-range and more precise Missile Site Radar (MSR). This anti-ballistic missile defense facility was linked to other remote facilities in the countryside around Grand Forks Air Force Base. START DATE: June 25, 2012 . It was designed to allow gradual upgrades to provide similar lightweight coverage over the entire United States over time. Maybe, people conjectured, we were closer to world peace. We meant no harm. [1] The complex provided launch and control for 30 LIM-49 Spartan anti-ballistic missiles, and 70 shorter-range Sprint anti-ballistic missiles. The MSR is listed in the Historic American Engineering Record, survey, The PAR site is listed in the Historic American Engineering Record, survey, This page was last edited on 15 May 2022, at 09:52. POWERED BY REEL-SCOUT, INC. All rights reserved. The project faced several setbacks that caused construction to stop twice; once due to snow, the other due to a labor walkout in 1970. Within two months, the point was moot. (800 x 600 = 70k) See Mark Morgan's July 2004 Trip Report for labels showing current facilities. An Army Corps of Engineers officer told Conrad, "We're going to double the size of this town in three or four years.". PAR sites were part of the United States . The radar and site remain in service today as the Perimeter Acquisition Radar Characterization System (PARCS), located at Cavalier Air Force Station. Safeguard Montana Complex (Malmstrom AFB) Here's everything you need to know about the past of this interesting, confusing, and downright tantalizing piece of Montana history.I got curious about this place the first time I drove by it, and I have done a lot of reading about it. ARPA noted that because the decoys were lighter than the actual warhead, they would slow down more rapidly as they reentered the lower atmosphere. In the middle of a field sixty miles north of Great Falls, MT of lies what is left of the Montana U.S Army Perimeter Acquisition Radar Site (PAR); one of many relics of the Cold War in this region of the state. Synonym Discussion of Safeguard. Learn more about the value of Safeguard for your business. Change). The deployment area of the complex covered the Minuteman . Originally there were to be three Safeguard facilities, with the other two near Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. 541 views, 9 likes, 3 loves, 4 comments, 9 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from CosmicCine: An Amazing & Forgotten Place! Vous tes ici : jacob ramsey siblings; map of california central coast cities; safeguard montana complex . By then, Montana's Safeguard sites were about 10 percent finished. A new design emerged, Nike-X, with the ability to defend against attacks with hundreds of warheads and thousands of decoys, but the cost of the system was enormous. The unfinished pyramid of the Montana complex built for the Safeguard Program. Update: July 10, 2012@ 8 pm Contact: SE Montana Complex Fire Information. Is this location inappropriate / broken / missing key info? The Spartan, with a range of nearly 500 miles, was . In partnership with Vital Ground and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, landowner Mary Sexton completed a conservation easement for the ranch this week. The Safeguard program began in the late 1960s as a method of protecting Americas ability to strike back against any attempt to disarm Washingtons nuclear capabilities. The Grand Forks installation was known as the Stanley R. Mickelson complex and was located approximately 160km (100 miles) northwest of Grand Forks. Zeus had limited traffic handling capabilities, designed to deal with a small number of attacking missiles arriving over a period of as long as an hour. The remains of the Perimeter Acquisition Radar site, east of Ledger, a relic of the Cold War. The population of Langdon dropped by 45%,Walhalla by 23%,Nekoma by 49%,Cavalier by 43%, andMountain by 55%. [3] The base was shut down on 10 February 1976. On 27 May 1972 the Secretary of Defense directed . The money that would have come into the community with continued construction and the $10 million annual operating cost didn't materialize. The MSR complex included 30 Spartan missile launchers and 16 Sprint missile launchers. A full-scale attack by the Soviets would easily . FULL GALLERY: (Photographs taken on August 5th, 2018), email: brady@bradylavignephoto.comphone: (505)-379-8481. The project saw a cost overrun and labor problems. Disability Rights Montana (DRM): (406) 449-2344 or 800-245-4743 . Some people who had bet on growth faced financial losses, but Pondera and Toole county folks could count positive effects, too. Nixon pressed ahead in spite of objections and complaints about limited performance, and the reasons for his strong support remains a subject of debate among historians and political commentators. By that time the House Appropriations Committee had already voted to deactivate it. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Plans were made in the late 1960s to deploy Safeguard systems in three locations, Whiteman AFB, Missouri, Malmstrom AFB, Montana, and Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, to protect important strategic weapons assets. Safeguard was the ultimate development of an ever-changing series of designs produced by Bell Labs that started in the 1950s with the LIM-49 Nike Zeus. . FIRE NAME: Ash Creek Fire. Under the terms of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the US was permitted to deploy a single ABM system protecting an area containing ICBM launchers. . Dental HMO plan benefits are provided by: SafeGuard Health Plans, Inc., a California corporation in CA; SafeGuard Health Plans, Inc., a Florida corporation in FL; SafeGuard Health Plans, Inc., a Texas corporation in TX; and . However, concerned that the Soviets would upgrade their system to Nike-X like performance, they instead began replacing their warheads with lighter ones, and carrying three of them. [citation needed], By late 1967 it was clear the Soviets were not seriously considering limitations, and were continuing deployment of their own ABM system. In other Indiana housing news, in 2016, two residents shed the West Calumet Public Housing Complex in East Chicago, claiming nearby industrial sites exposed . Construction on the two remaining bases continued until 1974, when an additional agreement limited both countries to a single ABM site. The Safeguard Program was a United States Army anti-ballistic missile system developed in the late 1960s. The PAR site was part of a plan to defend the ICBM silos in the region from the Soviets. ", In 1973, House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Robert Leggett, D-Calif., describedthe complex near Conrad as "one of the champion taxpayer-fleecers of all time. can a game warden enter private property in va > www mugshots com arizona > safeguard montana complex. The United States and the Soviet Union, under the terms of the treaty, were each allowed two anti-ballistic missile defense basesone to protect the national capital, and one to defend an ICBM installation. Snow did another time. Funding Components: Per-ANB Entitlement; Special Education Allowable Cost Payment; Data for Achievement The remaining base in North Dakota, the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, became active on 1 April 1975 and fully operational on 1 October 1975. It was the Safeguard prototypethe first of many such installations. In March 1969, incoming President Richard M. Nixon announced that Sentinel would be cancelled and redirected to protect the missile farms, and that its bases would be placed well away from any civilian areas. The site was named for Stanley R. Mickelsen, a former commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Defense Command. In March 1972, theTribune printed:"Several wheat farmers in the Conrad missile site area are furious at the Army Corps of Engineers and one of them likened their experience to 'getting in the ring with Joe Frazier with one hand tied behind your back.'". Safeguard would detect any incoming threats to the Minuteman missiles. Nixon announced construction would be delayed while the system underwent a review. Two radar sites were intended to be constructed on the northern border of the United States, one in Montana and one in North Dakota. [citation needed], The PAR was a large passive electronically scanned array radar that was intended to detect incoming ballistic missile warheads as they crossed over the North Pole region. I was younger than most of the people at my company, so most of my friends were from other companies and had been hired there and came from places like Minneapolis and had to find their own housing. The Safeguard Program was scaled back even more with the additional agreements of the Anti-Ballistic missile Treaty in 1974, only allowing one PAR site. If the Spartan failed to intercept the incoming offensive missile, the high performance & high speed (but short range) Sprint missile would attempt an interception within the atmosphere. On 18 September 1967, McNamara announced the Sentinel program, with 17 bases covering all of the US, along with a total of just under 700 missiles, about .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}110 the number in a baseline Nike-X. The unfinished pyramid of the Montana complex built for the Safeguard Program. It was intended primarily to protect against the very small Chinese ICBM fleet, limited Soviet attacks and various other limited launch scenarios. With President Nixon's March 14, 1969 announcement reorienting BMD to protect U.S. strategic forces, suddenly the proposed Sentinel sites at Malmstrom and Grand Forks, North Dakota, became a construction priority for what would become known as the Safeguard System. SRMSC has new owners! The Safeguard Program was a U.S. Army anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system designed to protect the U.S. Air Force's Minuteman ICBM silos from attack, thus preserving the US's nuclear deterrent fleet. 1, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Remote Launch Operations Buildings, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Remote Sprint Launch Site No. It was a missile system to protect missile systems. The Missile Site Radar overlooks missile launchers at the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard complex in Nekoma, North Dakota. While the incoming warhead came within range of the MSR, the associated computer systems would calculate intercept trajectories and launch times. Remnants of the incomplete PAR system still remain in rural Montana. [5], The envisioned sequence was as follows:[citation needed], Plans were made in the late 1960s to deploy Safeguard systems in three locations, Whiteman AFB, Missouri, Malmstrom AFB, Montana, and Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, to protect important strategic weapons assets. 2. The flag was flying over one building, a white pickup was parked in a parking lot, and there was a light in one of the garages, so we decided to go in and see if we could find someone to talk to and get permission to shoot a few photos. If that was the case, why have missiles at all? //pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js Remnants of the Montana PAR site are located east of Conrad, Montana, at 481715.83N 1112032.39W / 48.2877306N 111.3423306W / 48.2877306; -111.3423306. The Indianapolis Housing Authority had a duty to safeguard that information, the lawsuit states. Some farmers objected tothe appraisal for land the federal government wanted for the PAR site. The MSR and PSR sites are listed in the Historic American Engineering Record, a Heritage Documentation Program.[6]. It was possibly located at 480825.77N 1114526.16W / 48.1404917N 111.7572667W / 48.1404917; -111.7572667. Ranger Storage Information. As a result, Whiteman was canceled prior to construction, and Malmstrom was canceled with construction underway. "Safeguard Montana Complex (Malmstrom AFB)", Cavalier AFS renamed as U.S. Space Force installation, "SRMSC Reunion - Montana MSR Trip Report", Sharpner's Pond Anti-Ballistic Missile Site, Unofficial website of the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard complex, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Safeguard_Program&oldid=1087938260, Anti-ballistic missiles of the United States, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Aerial image of Remote Sprint Launch Site No. You can still view the pyramid. The United States had by then spent $8 billion on anti-ballistic missile systems and had another $2 billion allotted to finish the site in North Dakota. It defended Minuteman ICBM missile silos near the Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota. The closure of this base had a severe economic impact on the region. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Construction on the new phased array radar and its associated computer systems began at the MAR-I site in White Sands Missile Range. Unemployment in Cavalier County rose to 7.5 percent, and Pembina County, 8.6 percent. They proposed a system using a short range missile that could wait until the warhead was below 100,000 feet (30km) altitude, at which point the decoys would have been decluttered. It's still seeing action outside Concrete, N.D., not far from the Canadian border. Local civic leaders tried to come up with another use forthe site, which was mostly underground and in rural Montana. The missiles in the Safeguard Program included thirty Spartan and sixteen Sprint missiles. We took these photos not a moment too soon after we had spent about forty-five minutes taking photos,an angry man in a black truck arrived and claimed we were trespassing. The sites, which were all located withing a 20-mile radius of the MSR, were under the operational control of that radar facility. McNamara proposed arms limitations talks with the Soviets to put upper limits on the numbers of ABMs and warheads, but the Glassboro Summit Conference ultimately came to nothing. By that time the House Appropriations Committee had already voted to deactivate it. ThePAR site and Sprint missile sites needed 610 acres (plus 870 acres of easements). But fear of a new nuclear arms race killed the program before assembly of the first facility was complete. In this case it was ironically due to the Soviet's own ABM system which was very similar to Zeus. Related WebLink(s) Montana PAR Base :: Safeguard Montana Google Maps Quick Code Wikipedia Article on the Safeguard Program . The real issue becomes ensuring they cannot ignore your deterrent, and it was this concept that Nixon chose. In the middle of a field sixty miles north of Great Falls, MT of lies what is left of the Montana U.S Army Perimeter Acquisition Radar Site (PAR); one of many relics of the Cold War in this region of the state. Only the Nekoma ABM facility was completed, making itthe most advanced nuclear antiballistic missile facility ever built. Safeguard was scaled back to sites in North Dakota and Montana, abandoning initial work at a site in Missouri, and cancelling all other planned bases. There was 480 of us involved in its been built. "We will do it simply because we are permitted to do so by the ABM Treaty and because the administration apparently operates on the principle that no opportunity for military spending should go neglected," he said. Find Your Advisor Today! Five years after the initial groundbreaking, the North Dakota complex came to life. A full-scale attack by the Soviets would easily overwhelm it. The only truly interesting part about this abandonment is it's history, truth be told. Orlo Underdahl was offered $2,000 for 30 acres in the middle of his farm. Sprint and Spartan missiles both carried atomic warheads. Overhead drone footage shows Glen Willow Ranch against the backdrop of Montana's Rocky Mountain Front Range. Toole County. Safeguard had been developed to calm opposition but found itself just as heavily opposed. "Maintaining Friendly Skies: Rediscovering Theater Aerospace Defense". McNamara and Johnson seized on this as a solution to the problem; a defense against the tiny Chinese fleet was both technically possible and relatively low-cost. The PAR site was part of a plan to defend the ICBM silos in the region from the Soviets. As the warheads approached (but while still in outer space) the Safeguard long-range Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR) would detect them, providing filtered information to the shorter-range and more precise Missile Site Radar (MSR). In Montana, the hum of construction turned back into the howl of prairie wind. HHS came to this conclusion through a complex series of interpretive steps (reviewed by Rosati, 2008). [citation needed], In spite of all of these problems, which McNamara repeatedly made public in a series of talks, the Johnson administration was under intense pressure to deploy an ABM system. Our . The MSR complex included the Spartan missile and some Sprint missile launchers. Construction began in 1968 with labor and weather issues causing a couple of delays of construction. However, it allegedly did not, leading to a Sept. 23, 2022, ransomware cyberattack. Incident: Ash Creek Complex Wildfire Released: 1936 HOURS CST. Only the base and part of the second level remain. The ABM treaty limited the number of facilities such as the Stanley R. Mickelsen to two per country. Public policy - Montana Audubon is a respected and influential voice on complex natural resource issues across the state, with a proven ability to work with . Through the Safeguard era, talks between the US and Soviet Union originally started by President Lyndon B. Johnson were continuing. 2, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Remote Launch Operations Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Remote Sprint Launch Site No. The radar building itself is a pyramid structure several stories tall. Foliar diseases caused by fungal pathogens accounted for 8% of all crop disease diagnoses in 2021. yellowbrick scholarship reviews. The content of the information is solely dependent on the location owner/contact and no warranties, express or implied, as to the use of the information are obtained here. The Safeguard Complex, or Secret Government Pyramid, is located in North Dakota. The Safeguard Program was scaled back even more with the additional agreements of the Anti-Ballistic missile Treaty in 1974, only allowing one PAR site. "Anti-Ballistic Missiles and the Hutterites", by Bryan Burba, "Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Missile Site Radar (MSR) Complex", "Nekoma, North Dakota, pyramid played key role in U.S. The site -- officially named Remote Sprint Launcher 4 -- is one of four military installations that protected the long-decommissioned Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex at Nekoma. (PAR) site. Cold War strategy", Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Limited Area Sentry Station, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Missile Site Control Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Universal Missile Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Exclusion Area Sentry Station, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Warhead Handling Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Missile Launch Area, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Fresh Waterpump House, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Installation Headquarters Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Area Engineer-Administration Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Industrial Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Family Housing Units, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Post Chapel, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Gymnasium, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Community Center, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Perimeter Acquisition Radar Building, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Utility Tunnel, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Perimeter Acquisition Radar Power Plant, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Cooling Tower, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Remote Sprint Launch Site No. The Safeguard Program was to protect missile silos holding missiles called LGM-30G Minuteman III. Take Highway 366 east of Interstate-15 toward Tiber Reservoir and continue about 27 miles to Hauser Road. The site broke ground in 1970, but a treaty signed . This facility was purchased by a local Hutterite farming operation, and they now farm the land all around the base. You'll find that info at the top of this page. From this point on, he opposed building a "heavy" ABM system like Nike-X. In the fifties and sixties, the US military began to consider anti-ballistic missile defense systems to defend the Minuteman missile farms against incoming ICBMs and preserve America's ability to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike. The remaining base in North Dakota, the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, became active on 1 April 1975 and fully operational on 1 October 1975. Beginning in the 1950s, the US Army began working on antiballistic missiles (ABMs) that could intercept Soviet ICBMs headed Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! The Safeguard Program was an anti-ballistic missile system built by Western Electric and Bell Laboratories[1] and operated by the United States Army. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 limited the US and Soviet Union to two ABM sites each. To ensure they could defeat it, the US Air Force began equipping their own ICBMs with decoys, which would defeat the Soviet's Zeus-like system. With another election on the horizon, Montana Conservation Voters has set its sights on protecting Montana's outdoor heritage for future generations by making some key statewide endorsements. The government was going to shut it down in the 1990s but upgraded it instead. 3, Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Remote Sprint Launch Site No. The site, near Cavalier, North Dakota, is now operated by the United States Air Force as Cavalier Air Force Station. Known to locals as the 'Pyramid Of North Dakota" the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex was actually part of the anti ballistic missile system known as the Safeguard Program which built America's nuclear missile fleet from long range attacks over the north . The program was evolved from Nike Zeus, Nike-X & Sentinel anti-ballistic missile systems, yet all were deemed not good enough and so Safeguard was initiated. The Anti Ballistic Missile Defense System, sometimes referred to as the Ballistic Missile Defense system, has gone through a number of variations throughout the years. Helena, MT US Phone: 800.553.4563. We featured the Stanley Mickelsen Safeguard Complex in our hardcover coffee table book, Ghosts of North Dakota, Volume 1.