Photos: Nuclear launch control center in rural Montana

North of Great Falls, Mont., a small lot surrounded by a chain-link fence indicates a nuclear missile silo underground. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Nov. 7, 2014 6:38 PM PT

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In rural Great Falls, Mont., a small ranch house stands on the prairie with a sign at the gated entrance that reads “Ace in the Hole.” The house is a facade for what lies beneath it -- a nuclear launch control center.

Nuclear launch control center in rural Montana

An out-of-service missile stands at the main gate of Malmstrom Air Force Base, where hundreds of nuclear missiles are spread in silos over thousands of square miles. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Senior Airman Israel Camille oversees security at a missile launch facility at Malmstrom Air Force Base. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Lt. Wesley Griffith in a launch control center at Malmstrom Air Force Base. Located 70 feet underground, the control centers were built in the 1960s during the Cold War. “It’s a little like going back in time,” Griffith says. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Air Force Lt. Katie Grimley slides a floppy disk into a 1960s-era communication module in a launch control center. The computers use 8-inch disks that have long been obsolete; some spare parts for the complex have been pulled from military museums. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

A detail of the numerous control panels inside a missile launch control facility at Malmstrom Air Force Base. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Rows of batteries line the walls inside a missile silo used for training and maintenance at Malmstrom Air Force Base. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Griffith locks a 3-foot-thick door inside a launch control center at Malmstrom Air Force base. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Griffith prepares to close a 3-foot-thick door at a launch control center concealed 70 feet below a small ranch house. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Two-thirds of a missile sits in a training silo at Malmstrom Air Force Base. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Lights flash on a systems panel at a launch control center. Though a relic of the Cold War, the site is regularly maintained and updated, and still provides the U.S. with a more lethal nuclear strike capability than that of any other nation. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)