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Washington (AFP) Jul 28, 2006 Air defense operations in an iconic Cold War command post built deep inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado are being mothballed because of the low risk of a nuclear strike, a military spokesman said. The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) and the Northern Command are moving their Cheyenne Mountain operations to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, said Michael Kucharek, a Northern Command spokesman. "We're going to keep it in a status where all the software and everything is current but we're not going to come here for day-to-day operations," he said. The Cheyenne Mountain complex was carved 2,000 feet (600 meters) into granite beginning in 1961, at the height of the US-Soviet nuclear arms race. It is 4.5 acres in size and houses 15 steel, three-storey buildings mounted on springs to absorb the shock of a nuclear explosion. NORAD and its predecessors had monitored missile launches and other threats to the North American air space from the Cheyenne Mountain redoubt throughout much of the Cold War. Kucharek said the underground complex will continue to be used for certain functions by the US Strategic Command and the US Air Force Space Command, leaving about 700 people there when the moves are complete in about two years. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links
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