Upgrades may keep radar unit returning
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
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The towering Sea-Based X-Band Radar that has come and gone several times from Pearl Harbor may continue to do so as $1.2 million in upgrades are completed and a missile test conducted this year.
The behemoth missile defense tracking radar arrived in Hawai'i in January from Corpus Christi, Texas, on a heavy-lift vessel. Two months later, the Defense Department said it would depart for its home port in Adak, Alaska, in March after a paint job here and some shakedown cruises.
But the more than $900 million radar encountered problems, including a leak in its ballast piping, before an independent examination in June found a host of other problems with the one-of-a-kind platform.
A July return to port was made to fix electrical problems. The publication Inside the Pentagon reported that the Missile Defense Agency predicted in August the radar would arrive in Alaska in November.
Now, the agency says the 28-story radar will continue with further shakedown cruises and participate in a missile test later this year before making the transit to Alaska either in the winter or spring, according to agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers.
"We were trying not to put too specific of a date on it (the final departure) because we realized that there were activities that had to be accomplished before it could make the journey up to Adak," Rogers said.
The radar, which is so powerful that from Chesapeake Bay it could detect a baseball-sized object over San Francisco, is part of the nation's developing missile defense system.
But the June independent review found a host of shortcomings, including:
Rogers was not sure if some of the recommendations were addressed and said she could not comment on security changes but added that upgrades included winterizing a generator, adding a commercial wave-height generator, and putting in satellite TV for the crew.
Rogers said that while at sea, the SBX participated in a Sept. 1 missile test, tracking the target and interceptor and also tracked some satellites.
Philip Coyle, a military expert with the Center for Defense Information and former assistant secretary of defense, said "the radar part works, I think, just fine. It's quite a high-power radar system, although how it will work in rough weather remains to be seen out at sea."
The SBX is expected to operate in the northern Pacific and Bering Sea, where the harsh Arctic winter sets in by late October. High winds, heavy seas, low temperatures, fog, snow, hail and icing conditions are routinely encountered, the June report said, but added that SBX would ballast down to its "survival draft" and use its "excellent" seaworthiness during storms.
Coyle said he thinks the SBX is capable of making the trip, but the Missile Defense Agency may end up building a giant hangar for it.
"Whether or not it will turn out to be the kind of place they want to operate long-term I think remains to be seen," he said.
The Missile Defense Agency had considered mooring the missile-tracking radar three miles south of Kalaeloa, formerly known as Barbers Point, but in 2003 decided on Adak.
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.
The Missile Defense Agency said at the time that Kalaeloa was highly considered, but Adak worked best because it is the farthest location to the west and the north and is closest to the desired operating area.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.
