A BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE
SEA-BASED
X-BAND RADAR-1
Approved for Public Release
08-MDA-3447 (15 MAY 08)
[Link] Spread 1 of 10 - Pages(20, 1) 5/21/2008 [Link] PM
12 February 2007
PREFACE The SBX-1 in the frigid waters of the Bering Sea north of its port in Adak, Alaska.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) History Office
documents the official history of America’s missile defense
programs and provides historical support to the MDA Director
and staff. Our goal is to provide a factually accurate portrayal of
significant events affecting the agency’s mission.
“A Brief History of the Sea-Based X-Band Radar-1” provides
readers with a summary of the radar’s construction history and
offers interesting facts about the advanced sensor’s capability
12 February 2007
to enhance the agency’s Ballistic Missile Defense System. This Between 1 December 2007 and 1 April 2008, the SBX-1 traveled
pamphlet also includes a sequential photograph display with more than 4,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean.
captions.
Comments and suggestions may be forwarded to
Dr. Lawrence M. Kaplan, MDA Historian, at
[Link]@[Link], or by telephone at (703) 882-6546.
2 19
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31 March 2006
Motor vessel Dove tows the SBX-1 out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for its winter A BRIEF HISTORY
“shakedown.”
In January 2003, the United States government
purchased a semi-submersible 50,000-ton seagoing platform
from Moss Maritime, a Norwegian company specializing in special
purpose offshore vessels and platforms, for use in the Missile Defense
Agency’s (MDA’s) layered Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).
MDA’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense Joint Program Office, a BMDS
component, oversaw platform modifications at the Keppel AMFELS
shipyard in Brownsville, Texas; assembly and installation of the world’s
largest X-band radar onto the platform at Kiewit Offshore Services in
Ingleside, Texas; and additional modifications at Pearl Harbor Naval
Shipyard in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The self-propelled vessel, in addition to the X-band radar,
includes a bridge, control rooms, living quarters, workspaces, storage
areas, a power generation area, and a helicopter landing pad. It also
contains a command, control and communications system and an In-
flight Interceptor Communication System Data Terminal. The platform
16 October 2006
maintains 60-days of supplies and fuel.
Aerial view of the SBX-1 homeport in Kulak Bay, Alaska, prior to the
installation of the mooring system designed to make the vessel stationary In July 2005, MDA officially named the vessel the “Sea-Based
by chaining it to eight 75-metric-ton anchors embedded into the sea bed.
X-Band Radar-1,” or “SBX-1.” The SBX-1 underwent a wide range of sea
trials and exercises in the Gulf of Mexico prior to beginning its journey
around South America to its home port of Adak, Alaska. Moreover,
the mobility of the SBX-1 allows its movement throughout ocean
areas to support both missile defense advanced testing and defensive
operations.
Integrating the SBX-1 into the BMDS provides an advanced
tracking and countermeasures discrimination capability to assist
interceptor missiles located at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air
Force Base, California, in defending against a limited long-range missile
attack aimed at the United States. Furthermore, the SBX-1 will support
other missile defense elements designed to intercept and destroy
shorter range ballistic missiles that might be used against the United
States, its deployed forces, its friends, and its allies.
18 3
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FAST FACTS 23 January 2006
Maintenance work at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii shows the
elevator, scaffolding, stairs, and gangway leading to the vessel’s main deck.
• The SBX-1 serves as the largest and most sophisticated phased array
electro-mechanically steered X-band radar in the world. Steering
electronically within its field of coverage and mechanically in azimuth
and elevation allows the radar to track a full 360 degrees in azimuth and
about 90 degrees in elevation from near the horizon to the zenith. As a
result, the radar can track objects as they fly toward, over, and away from
the vessel.
• Approximately 45,000 transmit/receive modules in the radar operate
together to form the radar beam, which is capable of seeing an object
the size of a baseball at a distance of 2,500 miles. Each module consists
of the final transmit stage and initial receive stage from each antenna
element. The radar also uses 69,632 multi-sectional circuits to transmit,
receive, and amplify signals.
• The SBX-1, which is capable of traveling 8 knots under its own power,
measures 240 feet wide, 390 feet long, and 280 feet high from its keel
to the top of the radar dome (radome).
• Air pressure alone supports the radome that surrounds the radar. The 28 March 2006
radome weighs 18,000 pounds, stands more than 103 feet high, and
Approximately 45,000 transmit/receive modules operate together to form the
measures 120 feet in diameter. Moreover, the high-tech synthetic fabric
radar beam. The radome surrounds the radar and protects it from the weather.
allows the radome to withstand winds in excess of 130 miles per hour.
• The SBX-1 crew includes approximately 86 officers, civilians, and
contractor personnel to carry out its mission.
• In addition to the inherent stability of the vessel, the radar itself provides
electronic stabilization of the radar beam to continue mission operations
as the vessel responds to changing sea conditions.
• The marine diesel fuel capacity of the SBX-1 is 1.8 million gallons.
• As the principle midcourse sensor for the BMDS, the radar’s major
functions are cued search, precision tracking, object discrimination,
and providing a missile kill assessment. The In-flight Interceptor
Communication System Data Terminal communicates instructions from
the GMD Fire Control system to the interceptor missile when it engages a
target missile.
44 17
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21 January 2006 25 April 2003
The SBX-1 aboard the Blue Marlin in the Pacific Ocean with the Hawaiian The SmitWijs Rotterdam, a Dutch-owned oceangoing tugboat, transports
island of Maui in the background. the 50,000-ton seagoing platform from Moss Maritime in Norway across the
Atlantic Ocean.
22 January 2006 30 May 2003
The platform enters the Keppel AMFELS shipyard channel at Brownsville, Texas,
The SBX-1 in the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Hawaiian island of Maui. with the western tip of South Padre Island, Texas, visible in the foreground.
16 5
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30 May 2003 18 December 2005
The SmitWijs Rotterdam vessel tugs the SBX platform through the Keppel The SBX-1 passes through the western portion of the Strait of Magellan on
AMFELS Shipyard channel in Brownsville, Texas. its way to the Pacific Ocean.
1 January 2004 10 January 2006
Construction of the SBX radar ringwall assembly in the Keppel AMFELS Ship- The SBX-1 aboard the Blue Marlin at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with the
yard at Brownsville,
Shipyard Texas.
at Brownsville, Texas. U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in the foreground.
6 15
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18 November 2005 6 April 2004
The SBX-1 aboard the Blue Marlin, a Dutch-owned semi-submersible Aerial view (looking south) of SBX construction in the Keppel AMFELS
heavy lift ship, exits Aransas Pass in the Gulf of Mexico. Shipyard at Brownsville, Texas, with a view of northern Mexico.
17 December 2005 6 April 2004
The SBX-1 passes through the Strait of Magellan, which separates the
southernmost tip of the South American mainland. The archipelago of Aerial view of SBX construction in the Keppel AMFELS Shipyard at
Tierra Del Fuego, Chile, and its capital city, Punta Arenas, are in the foreground. Brownsville, Texas.
14 7
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7 April 2004 1 July 2005
Construction of the SBX “hotel” in the Keppel AMFELS Shipyard View of the SBX passing through a residential area of Corpus Christi, Texas,
at Brownsville, Texas. on its way to “sea trials.”
7 April 2004 26 July 2005
Colonel Mike Smith, SBX Project Manager (center, in white hardhat), Colonel John Fellows,
Aerial view of SBX construction in the Keppel AMFELS Shipyard at incoming SBX Project Manager (in black beret), and associates stand before the newly
Brownsville, Texas. designated SBX-1 at its dedication ceremony in Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas.
8 13
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15 May 2005 13 October 2004
The radome installation construction team in Kiewit Offshore Services at The newly constructed “helopad” and ongoing SBX construction in the Keppel
Ingleside, Texas. AMFELS Shipyard at Brownsville, Texas.
1 July 2005 15 October 2004
Motor vessel Dove, chartered to support the SBX while operating offshore of This welder from Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas, joins pieces of
Adak, Alaska, tows it during “sea trials” on the Gulf of Mexico. metal during radar construction.
12 9
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15 October 2004 2 April 2005
The radar construction and emplacement team stands in front of the SBX The Heavy Lift Device, capable of lifting more than 13,000 tons, raises the
radar in Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas. huge radar in Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas.
12 March 2005 29 April 2005
The SBX platform passes South Padre Island, Texas, enroute to Kiewit The SBX radar was secured and integrated onto the seagoing platform in
Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas. Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas.
10 11
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15 October 2004 2 April 2005
The radar construction and emplacement team stands in front of the SBX The Heavy Lift Device, capable of lifting more than 13,000 tons, raises the
radar in Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas. huge radar in Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas.
12 March 2005 29 April 2005
The SBX platform passes South Padre Island, Texas, enroute to Kiewit The SBX radar was secured and integrated onto the seagoing platform in
Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas. Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas.
10 11
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15 May 2005 13 October 2004
The radome installation construction team in Kiewit Offshore Services at The newly constructed “helopad” and ongoing SBX construction in the Keppel
Ingleside, Texas. AMFELS Shipyard at Brownsville, Texas.
1 July 2005 15 October 2004
Motor vessel Dove, chartered to support the SBX while operating offshore of This welder from Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas, joins pieces of
Adak, Alaska, tows it during “sea trials” on the Gulf of Mexico. metal during radar construction.
12 9
[Link] Spread 9 of 10 - Pages(12, 9) 5/21/2008 [Link] PM
7 April 2004 1 July 2005
Construction of the SBX “hotel” in the Keppel AMFELS Shipyard View of the SBX passing through a residential area of Corpus Christi, Texas,
at Brownsville, Texas. on its way to “sea trials.”
7 April 2004 26 July 2005
Colonel Mike Smith, SBX Project Manager (center, in white hardhat), Colonel John Fellows,
Aerial view of SBX construction in the Keppel AMFELS Shipyard at incoming SBX Project Manager (in black beret), and associates stand before the newly
Brownsville, Texas. designated SBX-1 at its dedication ceremony in Kiewit Offshore Services at Ingleside, Texas.
8 13
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18 November 2005 6 April 2004
The SBX-1 aboard the Blue Marlin, a Dutch-owned semi-submersible Aerial view (looking south) of SBX construction in the Keppel AMFELS
heavy lift ship, exits Aransas Pass in the Gulf of Mexico. Shipyard at Brownsville, Texas, with a view of northern Mexico.
17 December 2005 6 April 2004
The SBX-1 passes through the Strait of Magellan, which separates the
southernmost tip of the South American mainland. The archipelago of Aerial view of SBX construction in the Keppel AMFELS Shipyard at
Tierra Del Fuego, Chile, and its capital city, Punta Arenas, are in the foreground. Brownsville, Texas.
14 7
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30 May 2003 18 December 2005
The SmitWijs Rotterdam vessel tugs the SBX platform through the Keppel The SBX-1 passes through the western portion of the Strait of Magellan on
AMFELS Shipyard channel in Brownsville, Texas. its way to the Pacific Ocean.
1 January 2004 10 January 2006
Construction of the SBX radar ringwall assembly in the Keppel AMFELS Ship- The SBX-1 aboard the Blue Marlin at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with the
yard at Brownsville,
Shipyard Texas.
at Brownsville, Texas. U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in the foreground.
6 15
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21 January 2006 25 April 2003
The SBX-1 aboard the Blue Marlin in the Pacific Ocean with the Hawaiian The SmitWijs Rotterdam, a Dutch-owned oceangoing tugboat, transports
island of Maui in the background. the 50,000-ton seagoing platform from Moss Maritime in Norway across the
Atlantic Ocean.
22 January 2006 30 May 2003
The platform enters the Keppel AMFELS shipyard channel at Brownsville, Texas,
The SBX-1 in the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Hawaiian island of Maui. with the western tip of South Padre Island, Texas, visible in the foreground.
16 5
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FAST FACTS 23 January 2006
Maintenance work at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii shows the
elevator, scaffolding, stairs, and gangway leading to the vessel’s main deck.
• The SBX-1 serves as the largest and most sophisticated phased array
electro-mechanically steered X-band radar in the world. Steering
electronically within its field of coverage and mechanically in azimuth
and elevation allows the radar to track a full 360 degrees in azimuth and
about 90 degrees in elevation from near the horizon to the zenith. As a
result, the radar can track objects as they fly toward, over, and away from
the vessel.
• Approximately 45,000 transmit/receive modules in the radar operate
together to form the radar beam, which is capable of seeing an object
the size of a baseball at a distance of 2,500 miles. Each module consists
of the final transmit stage and initial receive stage from each antenna
element. The radar also uses 69,632 multi-sectional circuits to transmit,
receive, and amplify signals.
• The SBX-1, which is capable of traveling 8 knots under its own power,
measures 240 feet wide, 390 feet long, and 280 feet high from its keel
to the top of the radar dome (radome).
• Air pressure alone supports the radome that surrounds the radar. The 28 March 2006
radome weighs 18,000 pounds, stands more than 103 feet high, and
Approximately 45,000 transmit/receive modules operate together to form the
measures 120 feet in diameter. Moreover, the high-tech synthetic fabric
radar beam. The radome surrounds the radar and protects it from the weather.
allows the radome to withstand winds in excess of 130 miles per hour.
• The SBX-1 crew includes approximately 86 officers, civilians, and
contractor personnel to carry out its mission.
• In addition to the inherent stability of the vessel, the radar itself provides
electronic stabilization of the radar beam to continue mission operations
as the vessel responds to changing sea conditions.
• The marine diesel fuel capacity of the SBX-1 is 1.8 million gallons.
• As the principle midcourse sensor for the BMDS, the radar’s major
functions are cued search, precision tracking, object discrimination,
and providing a missile kill assessment. The In-flight Interceptor
Communication System Data Terminal communicates instructions from
the GMD Fire Control system to the interceptor missile when it engages a
target missile.
44 17
[Link] Spread 4 of 10 - Pages(4, 17) 5/21/2008 [Link] PM
31 March 2006
Motor vessel Dove tows the SBX-1 out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for its winter A BRIEF HISTORY
“shakedown.”
In January 2003, the United States government
purchased a semi-submersible 50,000-ton seagoing platform
from Moss Maritime, a Norwegian company specializing in special
purpose offshore vessels and platforms, for use in the Missile Defense
Agency’s (MDA’s) layered Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).
MDA’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense Joint Program Office, a BMDS
component, oversaw platform modifications at the Keppel AMFELS
shipyard in Brownsville, Texas; assembly and installation of the world’s
largest X-band radar onto the platform at Kiewit Offshore Services in
Ingleside, Texas; and additional modifications at Pearl Harbor Naval
Shipyard in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The self-propelled vessel, in addition to the X-band radar,
includes a bridge, control rooms, living quarters, workspaces, storage
areas, a power generation area, and a helicopter landing pad. It also
contains a command, control and communications system and an In-
flight Interceptor Communication System Data Terminal. The platform
16 October 2006
maintains 60-days of supplies and fuel.
Aerial view of the SBX-1 homeport in Kulak Bay, Alaska, prior to the
installation of the mooring system designed to make the vessel stationary In July 2005, MDA officially named the vessel the “Sea-Based
by chaining it to eight 75-metric-ton anchors embedded into the sea bed.
X-Band Radar-1,” or “SBX-1.” The SBX-1 underwent a wide range of sea
trials and exercises in the Gulf of Mexico prior to beginning its journey
around South America to its home port of Adak, Alaska. Moreover,
the mobility of the SBX-1 allows its movement throughout ocean
areas to support both missile defense advanced testing and defensive
operations.
Integrating the SBX-1 into the BMDS provides an advanced
tracking and countermeasures discrimination capability to assist
interceptor missiles located at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air
Force Base, California, in defending against a limited long-range missile
attack aimed at the United States. Furthermore, the SBX-1 will support
other missile defense elements designed to intercept and destroy
shorter range ballistic missiles that might be used against the United
States, its deployed forces, its friends, and its allies.
18 3
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12 February 2007
PREFACE The SBX-1 in the frigid waters of the Bering Sea north of its port in Adak, Alaska.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) History Office
documents the official history of America’s missile defense
programs and provides historical support to the MDA Director
and staff. Our goal is to provide a factually accurate portrayal of
significant events affecting the agency’s mission.
“A Brief History of the Sea-Based X-Band Radar-1” provides
readers with a summary of the radar’s construction history and
offers interesting facts about the advanced sensor’s capability
12 February 2007
to enhance the agency’s Ballistic Missile Defense System. This Between 1 December 2007 and 1 April 2008, the SBX-1 traveled
pamphlet also includes a sequential photograph display with more than 4,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean.
captions.
Comments and suggestions may be forwarded to
Dr. Lawrence M. Kaplan, MDA Historian, at
[Link]@[Link], or by telephone at (703) 882-6546.
2 19
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A BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE
SEA-BASED
X-BAND RADAR-1
Approved for Public Release
08-MDA-3447 (15 MAY 08)
[Link] Spread 1 of 10 - Pages(20, 1) 5/21/2008 [Link] PM