Posted on 04/05/2005 6:17:01 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
TEWKSBURY, Mass., April 5, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company's phased array X-Band Radar (XBR) has been successfully lifted and placed aboard its host Sea-Based XBR platform, the SBX-1, marking the completion of a major milestone in support of the Missile Defense Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050405/NETU029 )
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems designed and built the XBR for the BMDS, drawing on extensive sensor knowledge from its long heritage of radar programs. The nine-story-high XBR is the world's largest X-Band Radar, weighing four million pounds. Raytheon's XBR is the primary payload on the Moss 5 semi-submersible platform, which was prepared by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, the prime contractor for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense phase of BMDS.
As a primary sensor for the BMDS, the XBR will track ballistic missiles and provide the critical discrimination of target complexes. The radar will help identify the hostile warhead from the decoys and countermeasures, providing additional capability for interceptor missiles to protect the U.S. from ballistic missile attacks. Aboard the relocatable SBX-1, the XBR can be positioned in the ocean to support both testing and actual defensive operations.
"The Sea-Based XBR is a significant addition to the midcourse phase of the Missile Defense Agency's layered Ballistic Missile Defense System," said Rick Yuse, vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Missile Defense Business Area.
"This sophisticated sensor will provide both long range precision tracking and high confidence identification of threatening objects and represents a key element of the Missile Defense Agency's vision of protecting our homeland from all ranges of threats in all phases of flight," said Larry Briggs, director, Ground Based Radars, for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
The XBR was built over a period of 21 months in the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard near Corpus Christi, Texas, and was placed on the SBX-1 floating platform using Kiewit's Heavy Lift Device, which is capable of lifting more than 16 million pounds. The radar will soon complete integration into the SBX-1 system, and depart for verification testing in the Gulf of Mexico. Following testing, the vessel will set sail around Cape Horn for its primary base at Adak Island in Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
Based in Tewksbury, Mass., Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in joint battlespace integration. With a strong international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Armed Forces, Integrated Defense Systems provides integrated air and missile defense and naval and maritime warfighting solutions.
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2004 sales of $20.2 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.
Contact: Joyce Melikian 339.645.6967
SOURCE Raytheon Company
Web site: http://www.raytheon.com
I always thought this was going to be a land based system. Making it sea going is such a cool idea. Take it to where it does the most good. Very clever.
Very cool.
That's one hell of a pick.
As ex-Navy I certainly agree!
I suspect you already know this, but for others: http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/navsecgru/adak/
So the infrastructure for the "crew" is there. Apparently it has been fixed up and is not a bad place. Although it's foggy like 300 days/year :(
Adak is in the polar route (shortest distance) for an NK missile (and a ChiCom missile).
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