September 28, 2007:
There's a hot market for demilitarized ICBM silos. There are three of them on
offer at eBay right now, with the asking price of $500,000
per silo, which includes underground and above ground support facilities.
Hundreds of ICBM silos have been sold off in the last twenty years, as new
missile forces were reduced with the end of the Cold War, and the enactment of
arms reduction treaties. Most of these are located in remote areas. For
example, the three silo complex being offered on eBay sits on 57 acres in
central Washington State. This one is kind of prime because, unlike most of the
others, it is dry. Your typical missile silo complex sits under the water
table, and needs pumps to keep the water out. When these silo complexes are
demilitarized, most electrical and mechanical gear (including a lot of the
plumbing) is removed. The water, and some wildlife, return.
Disarmament treaties
required that many silos be destroyed and filled in. That still left above
ground buildings, as well as roads and other improvements on these rural
properties. No one has found an economically useful function for demilitarized
missile silos, but the allure is still there, and people still buy them.
