A scaled prototype of the Mobile Vault, with missiles, designed by a team at Sandia National Laboratories. (Craig Fritz/Sandia National Labs via SWNS)
By Dean Murray
The US military could soon be storing nuclear weapons in mobile shipping containers.
Newly designed 20-foot vaults have been rapidly created to secure critical and sensitive materials in challenging locations.
The storage solutions have been unveiled following the United States' bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, which highlighted the vulnerabilities of static nuclear sites.
An engineer adjusts sensors inside of the Mobile VaultÂs vestibule at Sandia National Laboratories while another watches.
Albuquerque-based Sandia National Laboratories was tasked with designing the vaults in response to a request from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Stockpile Responsiveness Program.
The NNSA works with the US military and is responsible for ensuring America's nuclear deterrent remains secure and responsive.
Sandia National Laboratories said: "Permanent bunkers and high-security facilities are standard tools for protecting the nation’s most sensitive assets. But in many environments, these options are not available where secure storage is needed most."
Two technologists weld the Mobile Vault frame to the exterior Conex container while an engineer performs a 3D scan of the vault at Sandia National Laboratories. (
They added that to meet that challenge, a team developed a mobile, high-security vault that can be rapidly deployed to safeguard critical materials in remote or temporary locations.
Six months after the project began, the team successfully demonstrated a fully functional mobile vault prototype, which they said offers "a flexible, scalable solution to help protect the nation’s most critical assets, wherever they’re needed."
“Executing the Mobile Vault project has been the most rewarding and exciting project I’ve worked on in my career,” said Stephen Neidigk, a Sandia manager. “When we demonstrated the full functional vault to the customer exactly six months to the day, I almost couldn’t believe it. The drive and passion the team has for this project is like nothing I’ve seen before.
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