The Underground Military: Inside the Secret World of Hidden Bases, Missile Cities and Subterranean Warfare

Beneath mountains, deserts and apparently ordinary landscapes, a different military world is taking shape. Across the globe, nations are building underground airbases, concealed missile facilities, hardened command centres and enormous networks of tunnels. 

As precision weapons, surveillance satellites and artificial intelligence make conventional military installations increasingly vulnerable, the ground beneath our feet is becoming one of the most valuable strategic assets on Earth.

A War Beneath the Surface

For much of modern military history, military power has been measured by what can be seen: aircraft, warships, missile batteries, military bases and the size of standing armies.

But a significant proportion of military infrastructure is deliberately hidden from view.

Deep beneath mountains, beneath seemingly unremarkable stretches of desert and inside vast reinforced underground complexes, nations are investing in facilities designed to survive attacks that might otherwise destroy their military capabilities.

Some are essentially underground warehouses. Others are capable of housing aircraft, manufacturing weapons, storing missiles, maintaining communications and potentially accommodating entire military command structures.

The concept is not particularly new. What is changing is the scale of investment and the increasing sophistication of the facilities being constructed.

In an age when satellites can photograph military installations from orbit and precision-guided weapons can strike targets hundreds or thousands of kilometres away, hiding beneath the surface offers an alternative form of protection.

The question is whether underground military infrastructure will fundamentally change the balance of power in future conflicts.

1. Iran: Building Military Cities Inside Mountains

Iran provides one of the most recognisable examples of this strategy.

For decades, the country has invested in subterranean military infrastructure, partly because its conventional military capabilities have faced significant technological and numerical disadvantages against potential adversaries.

Rather than relying entirely on exposed military installations, Iran has developed extensive underground facilities designed to protect missiles, drones, equipment and other military assets.

These installations are frequently described as Iran's underground missile cities. The name is significant. These are not necessarily individual bunkers but, in some cases, extensive tunnel networks incorporating storage areas, transport infrastructure and supporting facilities.

Iran has also publicly demonstrated underground facilities intended to accommodate unmanned aircraft and other military equipment.

One particularly interesting example is Eagle 44, also known as Oghab 44. Unveiled in February 2023, Eagle 44 is an underground airbase built into mountainous terrain in southern Iran.

Unlike a conventional aircraft shelter, the installation was presented as a protected military aviation facility, with underground hangars and supporting infrastructure.

Footage released by Iranian authorities showed F-4 Phantom fighter-bombers inside the complex. 

The aircraft themselves are ageing designs, but the strategic thinking behind the facility is considerably more contemporary.

The objective is to make aircraft more difficult to locate and destroy while they are on the ground.

However, there is an important distinction between protecting aircraft and maintaining an operational air force. Aircraft still need access to runways, fuel, maintenance, communications and personnel.

An underground facility may protect its contents from direct attack without guaranteeing that those contents can be deployed.

Nevertheless, Iran's approach demonstrates how countries facing technologically superior opponents are adapting their military infrastructure.

2. China: The Underground Great Wall

China has developed one of the world's most extensive underground military programmes.

One of its most frequently discussed components is the network of tunnels associated with the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force.

Often referred to as the Underground Great Wall, this system is intended to provide protection and concealment for elements of China's strategic missile capabilities.

The precise extent of the network remains difficult to establish independently. However, its strategic importance is considerable.

China's nuclear deterrent depends partly on convincing potential adversaries that a first strike would not eliminate its ability to retaliate.

Underground facilities can help achieve this by concealing weapons, protecting supporting infrastructure and making it more difficult to determine exactly where military assets are located.

There are also developments beyond the traditional tunnel networks.

In May 2026, Reuters reported that satellite imagery showed extensive new military construction around Chinese nuclear missile silo installations in Xinjiang and Gansu.

The infrastructure included launch-related facilities, bunkers, communications installations and supporting transport networks.

Analysts suggested that some of the construction could support mobile missile operations and improve the survivability of China's strategic forces.

The precise purpose of individual installations remains uncertain, but the wider development illustrates the increasing importance China places on hardened military infrastructure.

This is not simply about hiding weapons.

It is about ensuring that a country retains the ability to respond after suffering an attack.

3. North Korea: An Entire Military Designed Around Concealment

North Korea has long understood the value of underground military infrastructure.

Its geography, military doctrine and longstanding confrontation with the United States and South Korea have encouraged the development of extensive subterranean facilities.

These include protected artillery positions, underground aircraft shelters, missile facilities, storage installations and command infrastructure.

Some facilities are built into mountainous terrain, making them difficult to identify through conventional observation.

North Korea's underground military infrastructure serves several purposes.

It can conceal weapons from surveillance, protect equipment against aerial bombardment and potentially allow military assets to emerge when required.

The country has also developed an extensive network of tunnels along its border with South Korea. Some of these are associated with military logistics and defensive positions.

The wider lesson is that underground construction can allow a country with comparatively limited conventional resources to complicate the military planning of a much stronger opponent.

However, concealment is not the same as invulnerability. Underground installations still depend on entrances, transport routes, power supplies and other supporting infrastructure.

4. Russia: Soviet-Era Thinking Meets Modern Warfare

Russia inherited a substantial underground military infrastructure from the Soviet Union.

During the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the United States invested heavily in hardened command centres, nuclear shelters, protected communications facilities and strategic military installations.

The underlying concern was straightforward: in a nuclear conflict, military and political leadership needed some possibility of surviving an initial attack.

Russia continues to maintain hardened military infrastructure, although the precise capabilities and operational condition of many installations are not publicly established.

The country's wider military doctrine also reflects the importance of dispersal, concealment and protected command arrangements.

The emergence of increasingly sophisticated conventional precision weapons has given these older Cold War principles renewed importance.

The modern battlefield is not necessarily making underground military infrastructure obsolete. In many respects, it is making it more relevant.

5. The United States and the Western Underground Network

It would be misleading to suggest that underground military infrastructure is exclusively associated with countries such as Iran, China or North Korea.

The United States and its allies have invested heavily in hardened military facilities for decades.

During the Cold War, the United States developed protected command and communications installations intended to preserve government and military operations during a nuclear emergency.

One well-known example is the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado. Built inside a mountain, the installation was designed to protect critical military command and warning functions.

It remains associated with the United States' aerospace defence infrastructure.

The United Kingdom also developed extensive underground facilities.

During the Second World War, deep shelters were constructed beneath London, while numerous military tunnels, bunkers and protected command installations were developed throughout the country. Some were subsequently adapted for Cold War requirements.

These facilities illustrate an important point: underground military infrastructure is not necessarily a sign of technological weakness.

It is a recognised component of national defence planning.

6. Why Go Underground? The Changing Nature of Warfare

The growing interest in underground facilities is closely connected to developments in modern weapons technology.

Military installations that were once difficult to attack can now be identified through combinations of satellite imagery, electronic intelligence, aerial surveillance and other monitoring systems.

Precision-guided weapons have also transformed the vulnerability of conventional military infrastructure.

An exposed aircraft parked at an airbase may be destroyed without an enemy aircraft ever entering the airspace above it. A missile storage facility identified through surveillance may become a target for long-range weapons.

Even communications installations and command centres can be vulnerable.

Underground construction offers several potential advantages:

Physical protection: Rock, earth and reinforced structures can provide substantial protection against conventional explosions and fragmentation.

Concealment: Facilities built beneath mountains or remote terrain can be harder to identify and assess.

Dispersal: Underground networks can allow equipment and personnel to be distributed across multiple protected locations.

Continuity of operations: Hardened command centres can potentially continue functioning after surface infrastructure has been damaged.

Strategic uncertainty: An adversary may know that an underground installation exists without knowing exactly what it contains or how operational it is.

The last point is particularly important.

Military intelligence is not simply about discovering where something is. It is also about establishing what is inside, what it can do and how quickly it can be brought into operation.

Underground facilities make those assessments considerably more difficult.

7. The Bunker-Buster Problem

Of course, underground facilities are not impossible to attack. Military planners have developed specialised weapons intended to penetrate hardened structures before detonating.

These are commonly known as bunker-busting bombs.

The United States has developed particularly powerful examples, including the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

Designed to attack deeply buried and heavily protected targets, it represents an attempt to overcome the defensive advantages of subterranean construction.

But there are limitations.

The effectiveness of such weapons depends on numerous variables, including the geology, depth, construction materials and configuration of the target.

A weapon capable of penetrating one hardened installation may be considerably less effective against another.

There is also the question of intelligence.

An attacker must first identify the facility, understand its likely purpose and determine whether an attack is likely to achieve the desired result.

A military installation can be damaged without being completely destroyed.

Equally, an underground facility might remain physically intact but become inaccessible because its supporting infrastructure has been disrupted.

This creates an increasingly complex contest between those constructing underground defences and those developing weapons intended to defeat them.

8. The Hidden Weaknesses of Underground Military Cities

Despite their advantages, underground installations introduce their own problems. They are expensive to construct and maintain.

Excavation, reinforcement, ventilation, drainage, electrical systems, communications and environmental controls all require substantial investment.

The deeper and more complex the installation, the greater the engineering challenge.

There are also practical limitations.

Aircraft require suitable access routes and runways. Missile systems need to be transported and prepared. Personnel require supplies, accommodation and functioning communications.

Underground facilities also depend on surface infrastructure.

Roads, power supplies, ventilation systems, access points and other supporting installations can create vulnerabilities.

There is another potential weakness: geography.

A military installation built into a mountain may be difficult to relocate. Its position may become known, even if its internal layout remains secret.

This can create a strategic dilemma.

A country may have invested enormous resources in protecting a military asset, only to find that the installation itself becomes a predictable focal point during a conflict.

The defender must therefore consider not just how difficult a facility is to destroy, but how easily its operations can be disrupted.

9. Could Future Wars Be Fought Beneath the Ground?

The development of underground military infrastructure raises questions about how future conflicts might unfold.

Could aircraft operate from underground hangars?

Could missile systems remain concealed until moments before launch?

Could entire military command structures continue functioning beneath mountains while surface installations are being attacked?

In some cases, elements of these capabilities already exist. But the future may involve considerably more sophisticated integration.

Advances in robotics, autonomous transport, underground communications, environmental monitoring and artificial intelligence could make subterranean military facilities more efficient.

Automated systems might eventually undertake some maintenance, logistics and security functions, reducing the number of personnel required inside certain installations.

Underground facilities could also become increasingly important for protecting sensitive manufacturing equipment and military supply chains.

This would extend the concept beyond simply storing weapons. It could involve protecting the industrial capacity needed to continue producing them during a conflict.

10. The Environmental and Human Cost

There is another aspect of this development that receives considerably less attention.

Large underground military construction projects can involve enormous quantities of excavation, energy consumption, concrete, steel and other resources.

In mountainous regions, major excavation projects can permanently alter landscapes.

There are also environmental considerations involving groundwater, drainage, waste disposal and the management of excavated material.

The military secrecy surrounding such projects can make independent environmental assessment difficult.

The human implications are equally important.

As nations invest in facilities designed to preserve military capabilities during prolonged conflict, the distinction between protecting military assets and preparing societies for extended warfare becomes increasingly relevant.

Underground installations may protect weapons and command structures, but they do not necessarily protect the surrounding population.

Indeed, the resources devoted to military survivability raise wider questions about national priorities, civil defence and the resilience of ordinary infrastructure.

Conclusion: The New Military Frontier Is Beneath Our Feet

The expansion of underground military infrastructure is not a passing architectural curiosity. 

It reflects a fundamental change in how nations think about military survival.

For much of the twentieth century, military planners concentrated on controlling the skies, the seas and the land. Those objectives remain important.

But modern surveillance and precision weapons have created a new problem: increasingly sophisticated military assets can be identified and attacked before they are even deployed.

Going underground offers a partial answer.

Iran's Eagle 44, China's subterranean military networks, North Korea's concealed installations and the hardened facilities maintained by Western powers all demonstrate that the principle is widely understood.

Yet there is an uncomfortable contradiction.

The more nations invest in hiding their military capabilities, the more importance they attach to the possibility of a future conflict in which those capabilities might need to survive.

Underground military cities may make countries harder to defeat, but they can also make military competition more expensive, more secretive and potentially more difficult to control.

Perhaps the most significant development is not that nations are building underground bases.

It is that the modern battlefield is increasingly extending into a domain that ordinary observation cannot easily reach.

Above ground, the world may appear relatively peaceful.

Beneath it, an entirely different military landscape could be taking shape.

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