Sea-Based X-Band Radar
Sea -Based X - Band Radar in motion
IMO number:. 8765412
Sea -Based X - Band Radar ( SBX also SBX -1) is a floating, mobile, equipped with self-propelled radar station that can work even in strong winds and rough seas. It is part of the missile defense system the United States ( Ballistic Missile Defense System). The IMO number of the vessel is 8765412, the call sign is AAMD.
The sea-based X -band radar is mounted on a designed in Norway and built in Russia, semi- submersible drilling rig with double hull of the fifth generation of the type CS -50. The conversion of the platform was performed by the AMFELS shipyard in Brownsville ( Texas); the radar dome was constructed by the Kiewit yard in Ingleside (Texas ) and built on the platform. It is stationed near Adak Iceland in Alaska, but can be used throughout the Pacific to track down attacking ballistic missiles ( ICBMs ).
Development and use of
The platform is part of the " GMD " ( Ground -Based Midcourse Defense) of the Missile Defense Agency ( MDA). Since it is sea based, it can be placed where it is most needed for the development of defense against missile attacks. The main task of the SBX is the distinction of enemy warheads by also released in a hypothetical attack dummies to be, as well as an accurate tracking of the trajectory of the identified warheads.
The platform has many small radomes for communication purposes and a large central dome, which encloses a 2400 -ton X-band phased array radar. This radar has an area of 384 square meters, of which 248 square meters of pure antenna surface, " well over " 45,000 Sende-/Empfangs-Module which are arranged in a spacious configuration for target detection and target tracking tasks with a very long reach of the GMD to support mid flight phases of ICBMs. The radar has an electrical megawatts. It covers from mechanical and electronic alignment vertically a sector from 2 to 90 degrees, in the horizontal plane a range of ± 270 degrees.
The radar system used has been developed from the Aegis combat system and is part of the multi-stage BMDS program ( Ballistic Missile Defense ) of the MDA. An important difference from Aegis is the use of the X- band frequency range ( Aegis uses S-band, the Patriot system C - band). The radar was developed and built by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems for Boeing, the main contractor of the MDA project.
The director of the MDA, Lieutenant General Trey chief engineer, indicates that the SBX can track an object the size of a baseball from the Chesapeake Bay from 2900 miles away in San Francisco.
The radar will also lead the anti- missile deployment of missiles stationed in Alaska and California, as well as localnear naval defense units.
The platform CS -50 (now part of the Italian Eni Saipem - owned offshore company ) built as " Moss Sirius " at the Vyborg shipyard in Russia for Moss Maritime. She was purchased for the SBX project of Boeing, provided with a ship propulsion system, power supply and crew quarters on the AMFELS shipyard in Brownsville and equipped at the Kiewit yard in Ingleside with the radar.
This first SBX system is on Adak Island, part of the Aleutian Islands, stationed and can detect approaching missiles from North Korea and China there, but can also be used throughout the Pacific. The name of the platform, SBX -1, indicates that more are planned. For the longer continuously in use naval units, it is common to have at least three systems. Three additional CS -50 platforms were in early 2007 at the Severodvinsk shipyard in Russia under construction; but it is not known whether they are made on behalf of the United States or other customers.
On 20 March 2007 recognized the SBX -1 successful one (not sharp ) warhead an intercontinental ballistic missile ( " ICBM " ), which was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to Kwajalein Atoll.
Beginning of April 2013, CNN reported that the SBX -1 system had been set for the observation of North Korea in March.
Data
- Platform length: 116 meters ( 380 feet )
- Platform Height: 85 meters (280 feet) from the keel to the top of the radome
- Cost: $ 900 million
- Crew: Approximately 75 people, mostly civilians
- Radar range: secret, but probably 5000 km against intercontinental ballistic missiles.