they are chambers built in the ground to house missles..they call them silos because they are a large tall cement cylindrical structure like silos used to store grain.
?A missile silo is an underground, vertical cylindrical container for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). They typically have the missile some distance under the surface, protected by a large blast door on top.
A silo is a tall, usually round building made to store grain. When intercontinental ballistic missiles were deployed, they dug holes in the ground and built reinforced concrete cylinders inside them to house the missiles. They came be be known as silos because of their resemblance to the farm structures .You can visit some of them on tours. A few have been sold for storage or (in at least one case) a very unusual home.
Guido's got it. A silo is an agricultural building, typically for storing grain. When concrete cylinders were built underground to protect missiles, it was natural to apply the name to the similar structures. The purpose of a missile silo is to protect the missile from attack. Big holes in the ground with very strong roofs are frequently built to protect things- they generally work well. The deeper the hole, the harder the roof, the more it can withstand. The original silos were intended to survive an attack by enemy missiles armed with nuclear warheads. Enough missiles in silos would survive to be able to destroy the attacker. In the arcane doublespeak of the cold war, the silos were hardened to withstand a first strike, so that the attacker would face a retaliatory second strike and nobody would benefit. Having hardened weapons to launch a second strike was the basis of the MAD doctrine- Mutually Assured Destruction. Each side knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they would suffer unimaginable destruction even if they launched a surprise attack on the others. As the accuracy of land-based missiles improved, it became possible to drop a warhead or two on every silo the other side had. No assured second strike. The solution in the USA was called the Strategic Triad - there were nuclear-armed missiles in silos, nuclear armed bombers that could get off the ground and head for an enemy's territory after an attack was launched but before it arrived, and submarines hidden in the ocean with slightly less accurate missiles that were unlikely to all be destroyed in any sneak attack. Any successful attack on one leg would give enough warning for the other two the make the second strike.
A place where farmers store missle-toe before they ship it to market
