The Crazy Tech Behind America’s Arctic Missile Defense

We found mysterious remnants of an old military project on top of remote mountains in Alaska, why are they there? What is White Alice?

Read More:
The ice curtain that divides US families from Russian cousins
"Two islands in the Bering Straits, one Russian, one American, are barely two miles apart. Only a few military observation posts remain on the Russian island, but a community of Eskimos lives on the US island. After the Cold War they hoped to resume regular contact with Russian relatives - but now the chances seem to be fading again."

Army revisits troposcatter communications technology as alternative to long-range SATCOM
"U.S. Army researchers are reaching out to industry for fresh ideas on tropospheric scatter (troposcatter) technologies for fixed-site and on-the-move long-range military communications as an alternative to satellite communications (SATCOM)."

The White Alice Communications System
"In the early 50's, during the height of the cold war paranoia, a number of Air Force radar stations were built along the coast and in the interior of Alaska to warn of incoming enemy aircraft attacks, and for control of responding US fighters."
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[BlueAloe]

I grew up about five miles from a White Alice site in Tanana, Alaska. All the locals called it "The Site", and my dad lived on Site Road (since the road ended at the White Alice site). I remember wandering through the abandoned buildings as a kid, it was quite creepy. In the mid '90s, the Army came in and dismantled all the equipment, bulldozed the site flat, and planted grass over it. There's not much to see now, but all the locals remember it well.

[krustykraken]

1:50
Bounced off the Earth's "Atmosphere".
That atmosphere is pretty reliable.

[kateapples]

Granted I wasn't paying 100% attention, but as the word Missile even mentioned once in the video? What does that have to do with missile defense? It sounds like it's all "just" communication.

[ariebrons]

now: obsolete military telephone networks
1000 years from now: stonehenge

[conor.jdavies]

I have always wondered what they are on Battlefield 4.

[boodrowmalone]

There were two sets of antennas in each direction. The transmitter could be either on the A or B side switchable by a large U link on a patch board. The U link was about 18 inches long and 6 inches in diameter.

The receiving side used both antennas with two receivers with a combiner which selected the strongest signal. The signal was not microwave, it was UHF. Transmit and receive frequencies were different.

Most of these tropo shots were shut down in 1979-80 and replaced by satellite.

[rurutuM]

Amy's soft voice and that xylophone music in the background, I can use this video to put me to sleep.

[packbadge]

The final comment about the setup in Nome helping hunters and gathers find their way home was pretty cool and I don't know why. It just was touching for a reason I can't explain. Maybe it was her voice.

[kjclark]

A couple of things. (1) Your description makes it sound like the RF signals were being reflected by the atmosphere.  They weren't.  They were actually being scattered by the atmosphere.  An example similar to this is when you're driving at night and can see the glow of an on-coming car's headlight over the crest of a hill before you are in line-of-site distance.  The light isn't being reflected to you.  It's being refracted/scattered through the atmosphere.  (2) The pair of antennas were not one for send and one for receive as you stated.  Both were two way (send/receive) units.  The two units together implemented what was called "space division."  Because of the turbulent nature of the atmosphere, redundant signals were transmitted using both frequency division and space division.  In this way, at least one usable signal was typically received at the other end.

[TWAINLOL]

her hair and face are both varying shades of the same color, 10/10 would bang

[gk]

I can honestly say I really enjoyed this type of video. Hope you do more.

[__RD]

How do you "bounce" something off the atmosphere from the inside?

[MeskosPaslauga]

There's a very similar abandoned base in Sardinia in Italy. There's a geocatch there. I was there last autumn and it made huge impression! The size of these dishes are HUGE! I recommendt it to everyone. : )

[robweckert]

Amazing work, Amy. Very insightful. Cheers

[burt]

1:49 Does the signal really bounce in the atmosphere? It is not like a hard layer of atmosphere were it can bounce. The air is the atmosphere an the higher you go the thinner it gets. What am I missing?

[ali]

I worked at several of the sites, and went to others as relief tech for guys going on vacation. Later, I helped install replacement Earth Stations and turned off the power in two of the White Alice sites. Good times!

[thezman]

Really fun and interesting episode would love to see more like it!

[Novafro]

This video felt like a codec call in Metal Gear. I love it.

[MrJaypee]

A wonderful video once again... How about a video about the "Black Knight Satellite" ? It would be a pleasure to see you debunk it.

[OlafoWaffle]

There is still a land based communication system in Alaska known as ALMAR. Its used by the military and civil officials for long range communications in remote areas.