Work At Underground Test Site A New Indicator Of Possible Strikes On Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain Bunker

Key Points:

• The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) awarded a contract in February for construction work at the ALT-SHIST underground test site in New Mexico, linked to classified live-fire testing aimed at developing capabilities to target Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities.
• ALT-SHIST, located within White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), is used for testing earth-penetrating weapons like the GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which has been employed in past strikes on Iranian nuclear sites but not yet on the hardest-to-reach Pickaxe Mountain facility.
• Satellite imagery and reports from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) indicate increased construction activity at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain site in 2026, but it remains unclear if the site is operational or capable of uranium enrichment.
• The complexity of targeting Pickaxe Mountain, built under granite and heavily fortified, requires advanced intelligence, sophisticated modeling, and ongoing weapons testing at U.S. sites like ALT-SHIST to develop effective strike options.
• President Donald Trump has publicly discussed the possibility of striking Pickaxe Mountain, emphasizing persistent surveillance and the potential use of space-based intelligence, though no strike has yet occurred.