9.
EXPEDITIONARY FIGHTING VEHICLE
Thanks to the 1947 National Security Act, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) has
special authority and funding to develop vehicles tailored to its duties as both a maritime
and land force.
Surprisingly, this powerful branch of the military does not have an amphibious vehicle
designed to help fulfill its scope of operations.
During the late 1980s, the Marine Corps designed a tank with swimming capabilities that was
meant for storming beaches.
Known as the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), each vehicle was intended to seamlessly
carry 17 Marines from the water onto the land without stopping.
But it turned out to be more difficult than expected to get land and sea technology to
work well together.
The project dragged on for years and went way over budget, increasing from an estimated
$9 billion for 1,000 EFV’s to $14.4 billion for 574 of the vehicles.
In 2011, Defense Secretary Robert Gates questioned whether it was even practical to prepare for
an amphibious assault.
While the strategy was popular during World War II and the Korean War, modern weapons
enable militaries to fire projectiles at their enemies from far away, largely reducing the
chances of close combat.
All things considered, Gates recommended the EFV program for cancellation.
It was replaced by the Amphibious Combat Vehicle Program, which aims to develop several different
types of amphibious vehicles.
8.
THE NEKOMA PYRAMID
In a remote corner of North Dakota, near the small city of Nekoma, a reinforced concrete
pyramid stands tall against the open sky, along with a handful of smaller buildings
nearby.
Formally known as the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, it was developed during
the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War.
It was designed to shoot down incoming Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, should
the need arise.
The $6 billion project entailed building dozens of missile storage silos and launching silos,
a cache of nuclear missiles, and the giant pyramid, which has a circular shape near the
top on each side.
It was intended to be a radar system for detecting enemy weapons, but the complex was only operational
for a short time before it was shut down due to the overwhelming costs associated with
running it.
There were also concerns about potentially firing missiles over friendly territory and
about the site’s effectiveness in deterring a Soviet missile attack.
The complex was decommissioned during the 1970s, and only a few people have been allowed
in ever since.
Visitors can see the pyramid from a roadside that runs alongside the property, and they’re
allowed to take photos, but they can’t get any closer to it.
In 2017, a local job development authority bought part of the site in hopes of working
with Google and another big-name company to turn it into a data processing and security
center.
Other parts of the property have been sold and auctioned off.
But in recent years, some private owners have failed to sell their parcels for what they
feel is an acceptable price, indicating that the property isn’t in very high demand.
And it makes sense – after all, not many people have a practical reason for buying
a decaying Cold War relic.
7.
PROJECT ICEWORM
As the Cold War heated up during the 1950s, the United States Army came up with the idea
of building a network of secret nuclear launch sites that would be hidden beneath the Greenland
Ice Sheet.
They hoped to use the facilities to store medium-range missiles that were capable of
hitting the Soviet Union.
The Army launched a cover project in 1960 to study the feasibility of this plan.
Dubbed Camp Century, its supposed goal was to build affordable ice-cap military outposts
in northwestern Greenland.
But the project’s real purpose was to conceal the true mission, Project Iceworm, from the
Danish government and the rest of the world.
A team of engineers dug 21 trenches and filled them with pre-made buildings.
The tunnels spanned nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) and consisted of a hospital, a theater, a
shop, and a church.
Around 200 members of the military lived in the subterranean settlement.
But the project encountered an unexpected hurdle when ice core samples showed that the
glacier was traveling much faster than anyone had realized.
The data indicated that within two years, the tunnels and stations would be destroyed.
Project Iceworm was officially canceled in 1965, and the site was evacuated.
The military left behind biological, radioactive, and chemical waste, thinking it would remain
frozen in the ice forever.
They were wrong, however, and a 2016 study showed that if the waste isn’t cleaned up
by the year 2100 or sooner, it’ll start leaking into the surrounding environment.
6.
ADVANCED SEAL DELIVERY SYSTEM
Built in 1996, the Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS) was a midget submarine that
was used for transporting Navy SEALS and their equipment from submarine platforms to carry
out clandestine and covert special operations missions.
The concept for the ASDS built upon the original SEAL delivery vehicle, which was developed
in 1983.
It was a “wet” submarine, meaning that the riders had to withstand long periods in
only a wet or dry suit while traveling in extremely cold waters.
The original vehicle also often required SEALs to spend time warming up on the beach before
they could continue with an ongoing mission.
A National Defense Research Institute (NDRI) investigation found that these conditions
often had a detrimental effect on soldiers’ physical and mental capabilities.
For these reasons, the idea for a “dry,” or pressurized hull for a SEAL delivery vehicle
was born in the form of the ASDS, and a prototype was developed.
The project improved the vehicle’s range, speed, payload, and habitability, according
to the NDRI report.
It also extended the SEAL delivery system’s range considerably.
The ASDS remained in commission from 2003 until 2008, when the prototype was destroyed
in a fire.
It was canceled the following year due to the high cost of running the program and reliability
issues.
As of 2019, the Navy had plans to replace the ASDS with a midget submarine called the
Dry Combat Submersible.
It’s similar to its predecessor and is currently under development by Lockheed Martin.
5.
MK-ULTRA
During the Cold War, paranoia was rife among the U.S. government – to the point where
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) became convinced that communist nations had developed
a secret drug or technique for controlling people’s minds.
American officials thought that Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean agents were using the alleged
drug to brainwash prisoners of war.
This obsessive fear triggered a top-secret CIA project to find or develop a mind-control
drug, with plans to use it on Soviet enemies.
The program was dubbed MK-ULTRA, and it ran from 1953 to 1973.
Throughout those two decades, over 150 experiments were performed on human test subjects, who
were subjected to psychedelic drugs, like LSD; electroshock, paralyzing agents, and
more.
Study leader and chemist Sidney Gottlieb aimed to first destroy the subject’s existing
mind.
The next step was to implement a different way of thinking into the newly created mental
void.
Many of his cruel tests were carried out on unsuspecting subjects, including prisoners
at jails and detention facilities in both the U.S. and abroad.
The CIA employed another sick program under MK-ULTRA called Operation Midnight Climax.
It involved paying prostitutes to lure unsuspecting customers to CIA houses, where agents experimented
on them with different substances.
Journalist Stephen Kinzer told National Public Radio (NPR) that it’s impossible to measure
the full extent of the damage that the highly-classified project did to people’s lives, especially
since the CIA destroyed most of its records regarding MK-ULTRA when the program ended.
But there’s no doubt that the unethical and illegal operation killed some people and
destroyed others’ lives.
In 1974, a journalist named Seymour Hersh exposed the project, prompting an investigation.
After the findings were revealed, then-President Gerald Ford issued an executive order banning
intelligence agents from experimenting on human subjects with drugs, without their consent.
Have you heard of this secret military project before?
Do you think something like this is still going on today, right under our noses?
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4.
ROSS ISLAND
Military projects aren’t always top-secret and they don’t always revolve around developing
new technology.
One of the most common military missions throughout history has been that of conquest.
Take, for example, British imperial rule over India during the 19th century, when royal
colonial authorities established a penal colony in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands
in the Indian Ocean.
Located over 800 miles (1,287 km) from the Indian mainland, the far-flung region seemed
like the perfect place for imprisoning rebels who fought back against British rule.
Officials chose a tiny island measuring less than one-third of a square mile, known as
Ross Island, as the administrative headquarters.
They forced inmates to clear trees to make room for dozens of upscale Victorian-style
buildings, including an extravagant bungalow for the penitentiary’s commissioner.
Ross Island also had tennis courts, swimming pools, a church, and elegant gardens, ensuring
that top-ranking prison staff had to sacrifice as few of the trappings of their luxurious
lifestyle as possible.
Meanwhile, and this probably goes without saying, convicts languished in deplorable
conditions.
They were malnourished, overworked, exposed to disease, and experimented on with malaria
drugs that made them extremely ill and depressed.
For decades, human rights abuses were committed against prisoners simply for fighting for
their country’s freedom.
The site finally closed down in 1937, not a minute too soon.
During World War II, the Japanese raided the island in search of useful materials.
The Allies managed to recapture it before it was permanently disbanded.
Today, the Indian government oversees the eerie, crumbling ruins, which have been reclaimed
by nature.
While it’s usually somewhat depressing to see a series of buildings in ruins, in this
case it’s a good thing, because it represents the closing of one of the more sinister chapters
in world history.
3.
GEORGIA NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT LABORATORY
During the early 1950s, a site known as the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory was built
in Georgia’s Dawson Forest.
Also known as Air Force Plant 67 or AFP 67, it was a clandestine United States Air Force
(USAF) testing facility where military equipment was exposed to radiation.
It is also here that the military partnered with Lockheed in hopes of developing a nuclear-powered
airplane.
But not very many people know the full scope of the work that was done at AFP 67, because
of its highly classified nature.
The facility’s nuclear reactor was unshielded, which means that workers had to retreat into
underground bunkers whenever it was turned on.
And its effects were evident in the surrounding trees, which lost all their leaves from the
radiation.
AFP 67 was closed and dismantled in 1971.
To this day, most of what went on there is a mystery.
All that remains of the facility are the concrete pilings and husks that were left behind, along
with the building’s foundation and a smaller structure nearby.
Parts of the site are cordoned off and remain inaccessible to the public today, much as
they were when the facility was still operating.
The underground tunnels and bunkers that sheltered employees when the reactor was in use were
filled in, but curious adventurers continue to search for remnants of them.
Thankfully, there’s no detectable radiation at the site today.
2.
HITLER’S SECRET FRENCH BUNKER
As the Allies inched closer and closer toward a World War II victory, Adolf Hitler planned
some last-ditch moves in hopes that the Nazis would regain an upper hand.
One such plan was to invade Britain from a secret bunker in the French wilderness.
The clandestine site was just one of many of the cruel dictator’s command centers
in German-occupied territories throughout Europe.
It’s also where Hitler was stationed when he realized that the Nazis were losing the
war.
The remains of this final holdout, codenamed Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschlucht II, are
at an undisclosed location somewhere in northern France.
The site’s exact location is kept secret because it’s still used by the country’s
elite Foreign Legion military for training exercises, but photographer Marc Askat managed
to find it in 2018.
He captured rare and fascinating images, including the moss-covered building with vaulted doors,
which lead to a drab, decaying interior and a 6-mile-long (10 km) tunnel.
The defunct facility is filled with rusting equipment, broken pipes, and missing floorboards.
Surprisingly, Hitler only used the bunker once.
In 1944, he held a meeting there during which one of his generals, Erwin Rommel suggested
conceding to the Allies and ending the war.
The mere proposal infuriated Hitler.
Then, with uncanny timing, an Allied bombing raid interrupted the meeting, forcing its
attendees to take refuge in a bomb shelter.
When all was said and done, Hitler fled for Germany and never returned to the site.
1.
BABY FLATTOPS Before the U.S. entered World War II, it became
clear to the Navy that it did not have enough fleet carriers to fight Germany and Japan.
To compensate for the shortage, the military developed something called the escort carrier.
Also called a “jeep carrier” or “baby flattop,” it was smaller and slower than
a large fleet carrier, but it was still sufficient enough to protect convoys and amphibious landings.
At roughly half the length of a traditional fleet carrier, baby flattops were much cheaper
and easier to build.
They were built on the hulls of commercial ships.
And while they certainly served their purpose, their capabilities were limited.
For example, baby flattops weren’t any faster than cargo ships, and they were too slow to
keep up with a main force of fleet carriers, cruisers, or battleships.
Still, they were useful, and even necessary, to have around, especially when it came to
ferrying aircraft.
One Quora user named Tony Purtell described baby flattops as the “unsung heroes of the
Battle of the Atlantic and the island hopping campaign in the Pacific.”
In other words, they played a crucial role in the Allied war victory.
And who knows where we’d be without them?
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