Strange building in Kirtland Air Force Base

[mbelicek]

Anybody knows what is this strange building in Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque?

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[SkyNet]

Originally posted by mbelicek@Jun 26 2005, 02:01 AM
Anybody knows what is this strange building in Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque?

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Quoted post

That is the huge wooden trestle, the largest all-wooden structure in the world. It is used for EMP testing procedures. Basically they will haul planes onto the deck of it and blast them with EMP pulses to simulate the effects of a nuclear explosion and how the equipment in whatever they are testing reacts to EMP pulses.

It also made completely out of wood (and glue I presume) there's no metal on that structure whatsoever. On a side note, Kirtland AFB also houses one of the largest (if not "the" largest) storage facilites of nuclear weapons, the undergroud storage facility. Zoom out from the Trestle, and you will see a pentagon shaped roadway surrounding two roads that go underground. They have probably hundreds of thousands of warheads and bombs there waiting to go other shipment points or off to BWXT Pantex to be dissassembled.

[mbelicek]

Wow, that's amazing. Thanks SkyNet!

[Unregistered]

Wow Thats great

WOW that’s great Skynet. Did you actually read the original question and the very poor grammar in which it was written, huh maybe a non US Citizen type? It's great you know what the Trestle is but why must you volunteer the nuke info. Did you learn nothing from 9/11, or maybe you don’t care? While it's not a secret, your “side note” does not need to widely publicize. Good job.

[NotASecret]

Unregistered.

None, of that information is a secret or classified. It hasn't been for decades. The tressle hasn't seriosly been used for decades either. College kids on internships get to play with it a bit. Today, most experiments can be generated in the lab or on computers.
The Four Hills storage facility also is no secret and hasn't been for decades.
Still, anyone stupid enough to attempt to get near the place would be shot LONG before anyone asked "Why are you here?"
-Use your head- Even the common civilian knows that there are multiple layers of conventional and non-conventional defences for such a facility.
Finally, there is a reason they built the Four Hills storage facility. It can take a direct tactical hit largely unscathed... ofcourse, Albuquerque would be nomore... but the Four Hills storage facility will be there intact 4,000 years from now.
Hopefully, mankind will have evolved to a point of not needing those kinds of weapons by then... if we're still here...

[barbun]

If it is secret you will never see it!

[Flynn]

AreYouSure?

None, of that information is a secret or classified. It hasn't been for decades. The tressle hasn't seriosly been used for decades either. College kids on internships get to play with it a bit. Today, most experiments can be generated in the lab or on computers.
The Four Hills storage facility also is no secret and hasn't been for decades.
Still, anyone stupid enough to attempt to get near the place would be shot LONG before anyone asked "Why are you here?"
-Use your head- Even the common civilian knows that there are multiple layers of conventional and non-conventional defences for such a facility.
Finally, there is a reason they built the Four Hills storage facility. It can take a direct tactical hit largely unscathed... ofcourse, Albuquerque would be nomore... but the Four Hills storage facility will be there intact 4,000 years from now.
Hopefully, mankind will have evolved to a point of not needing those kinds of weapons by then... if we're still here...

Are you sure the tressle hasn't been used for decades? I worked just down the road from the tressle at the Goat Farm, which is now a riding stable, just four decades ago; and the tressle didn't exist then.

The real reason for building the Four Hills storage facility at the former Monzano Base was to build the Eisenhower Room, a super-secret, secure place for the President to stay during a national security crisis, e. g. an atomic war. President Eisenhower never used it, but it was built during his administration. This information has been released under the Freedom of Information Act but rumors abound long before that.

[bhughes]

That is the huge wooden trestle, ...

It also made completely out of wood (and glue I presume) there's no metal on that structure whatsoever.

The structure is held together with large nylon nuts and bolts (or some similar type of plastic material). Incidently, you can find metal nails in the structure--the statement that there's no metal in the structure whatsoever is incorrect.

[Unregistered]

Tressle

The tressle was finished in 1979 and used for EMP testing, yes. The connectors that hold the wood together are large fiberglass screws and the wood is a specially treated type of Fir. Yes there is metal in the structure but not enough to skew any test results. There are only small nails to hold planks on the walkway. There has been a discuission ongoing for a few years now whether to demolish it, or maintain it, or simply let it stand until it drops, which may take a few hundred years.

[paddyo]

I worked at the trestle from 79 to 86. There were also other EMP simultors at Kirtland that I worked at. The pulse simulator is 6MV Pulser 3MV- / 3MV +. We tested everything from A-7 to AF1, even the presidential limo and Marine 1. It was a wonderful time but then computer modeling came into play and most of the experiments could be modeled. The other facilities at Kirtland were VPD-1, VPD 2, HPD, ARES and ALECs.

It was originally all wood with pressurized would laminate bolts but were eventually changed to the more maintainable fiberglass. Also large vertical metal rings inserted to protect against shearing. It took over 1 year to tighten, replace and maintain the bolts. Every Year!

[paddyo]

http://www.ece.unm.edu/summa/notes/trestle_movie.html

Video of TRESTLE EMP facility

[felton ohio]

trestle

I WORKED AT TRESTLE IN 1982 TO 1984, ANY ONE INTERESTED ?

[tjbdallas]

A number of us are slowly identifying points of interest at Kirtland by using the editable map at wikimapia_dot_org. I am primarily working on the old Manzano Base area. If you are familiar with some of the places within the base, please feel free to add them to wikimapia.

I was stationed at Sandia Base in the mid-sixties.

T

[Unregistered]

ARES and ALECS

ARES was constructed for research of Electromagnetic effects on weapon systems and for shielding of sensitive systems, i.e. the presidential limo. ALECS and early much smaller facility, stands for Air Force Los Alamos Electromagnetic Calibration and Simulation facility. AFWL alum

[eber]

Wondering if Soviets had similar installations. This one looks incredible.