Hawai'i won't get tracking radar
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Hawai'i won't be getting a 25-story floating radar platform as part of the nation's missile defense plan, military officials said yesterday.
Instead Adak, Alaska, has been selected as the support base for the 390-foot-long Sea-Based Test X-Band radar.
The Missile Defense Agency had considered mooring the powerful missile tracking radar, which looks like an oil rig topped by a huge golf ball, three miles south of Kalaeloa, formerly known as Barbers Point.
Six locations were examined, including Adak and Valdez in Alaska, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Naval Station Everett in Washington state, Port Hueneme in California and O'ahu.
Rick Lehner, a Missile Defense Agency spokesman, yesterday said Kalaeloa was highly considered, but Adak works best because it is the farthest location to the west and the north, and is closest to the desired operating area.
"With the interceptor missiles in both central Alaska and on the central California coast, the best location for operations would be the northern Pacific," Lehner said.
Adak, in the Aleutian islands and with a population of about 250, is home to a Navy base that was closed in 1996.
"So we had all the infrastructure available to us," Lehner said.
The SBX radar platform and missile tests at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i are part of plans outlined in December by President Bush to have the start of missile defense by 2005.
Plans call for up to 20 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, and 20 sea-based interceptors on Aegis ships, including the Pearl Harbor-based cruiser Lake Erie.
The SBX is part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System, which is designed to intercept and destroy long-range ballistic missiles aimed at the United States during the middle of their flights while they are outside the Earth's atmosphere.
Some O'ahu residents who attended a planning meeting for the system in March expressed concern about emissions from the radar. Officials had said it could cause "electro-explosive devices" to detonate, such as automobile airbags and military ejection seats, if the beam crossed their path.
But program officials said the narrow beam would be constantly moving, not be directed at ground level, and would be shielded to prevent exposure to surrounding areas.
Lehner said he received no calls from Hawai'i residents, compared to several dozen calls from people in the Seattle area concerned about the possible basing.
The Missile Defense Agency also is looking at testing a TPS-X radar, a smaller, land-based version of the radar platform, at one of two sites at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. Lehner said the radar will be part of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense anti-ballistic missile program.
Sea-based tests involving target launches from Kaua'i and intercepts from cruisers like the Lake Erie will be increased to include two additional cruisers by the end of 2005, Lehner said.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
