Deeply Buried Facilities

The existence of deeply buried Underground facilities has emerged as one of the more difficult operational challenges to confront U.S. military forces in the twenty-frst century. While these types of facilities are not new, they are signiscant when one considers the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The problem is that deeply buried facilities can be used by rogue governments to manufacture and store weapons of mass destruction (WMD), as well as house the critical command and control and governmental functions that are central to the successful prosecution of a war. It is unfortunate that, with the exception of nuclear weapons, the current technologies for locating and neutralizing these types of facilities may not be suffcient for holding these facilities at risk. The purpose of this study is to outline the difficulties that are involved in locating and neutralizing deeply buried facilities, and suggest alternate methods and technologies, other than nuclear weapons or advanced conventional weapons, for holding these targets at risk. This study describes deeply buried facilities and their typical functions, assesses their vulnerability, and presents ideas for neutralizing these facilities with non-conventional means. The broad objective of this study is to ensure that U S national and military objectives can be achieved in contingencies that involve deeply buried facilities.