Giant missile defense radar getting $27 million in upgrades

By: AUDREY McAVOY - Associated Press | Thursday, July 19, 2007 10:49 PM PDT ∞

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- The military's $900 million, 28-story-tall missile defense radar is undergoing renovations recommended by an independent assessment.

The Missile Defense Agency plans to spend another $27 million on the floating complex that looks like a giant golf ball, equipping it with a new rescue boat, lights on its helicopter pad, and other upgrades over the next half-year.

The modifications address problems outlined in a report the agency commissioned last year, said Army Col. John Fellows, the radar's project manager. The study was designed to help officials move the recently built apparatus beyond the testing stage and prepare it for real-world operations, Fellows said.

"There were some things that frankly we wanted to do a bit more robustly," Fellows said during a tour of the facility this week.

The radar became familiar to the people of Honolulu when it spent several months at Pearl Harbor last year before moving to Alaska. It's already been back once before for repairs.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar is expected to undergo a round of upgrades at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard through early next year. It will take a break for a few months starting in August, however, to participate in missile defense tests off Hawaii and California.

The radar is a key part of the missile defense network the military is building to protect the U.S. and its allies from enemy missiles.

It's based in the Aleutian Islands port of Adak in part to best spot any missiles North Korea might fire at the U.S. Washington believes Pyongyang, which has been developing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, poses one of the most serious missile threats to the U.S. and its allies.

The radar is designed to feed data about incoming projectiles to a command center as well as to troops tasked with launching interceptors from underground silos in Alaska and California.

It also will supply information to Navy ships equipped with interceptor missiles.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar, or SBX, is so powerful it can spot baseball-sized objects from 3,000 miles away. That level of precision enables it to distinguish between missile warheads and decoys so U.S. interceptors can seek the right target.

It gets its power in part from its size. The radar, protected a white globe, reaches the equivalent of about nine stories above a 19-story platform made from an oil rig modified to sail anywhere at sea. It dominates the Pearl Harbor skyline, towering over nearby ships and apartment buildings.

Critics say the radar is too expensive, symbolizing an unproven, inadequately tested missile defense program that is costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

But Fellows argues it's a small investment if it prevents a ballistic missile from landing on a U.S. city.

The modifications being done at Pearl Harbor include adding lighting and additional tie-downs to the existing helicopter pad so that all types of choppers, from Army Black Hawks to commercial helicopters, will be able to land in an emergency.

The new rescue boat will help crew members swiftly retrieve anyone who may fall into frigid Alaskan waters. The existing boats aren't able to rescue overboard sailors as quickly.

The radar's gym, meanwhile, will get satellite TV, boosting the quality of life for the crew.

The SBX is normally staffed with about 85 crew members who come aboard for 54-day rotations. All are generally civilian contractors, except when the radar participates in a missile defense test and military officials come on board.

Fellows acknowledged adversaries might view the radar as a prime military target. But he said the U.S. Pacific Command, which is responsible for security in the region, is ready to dispatch planes and ships to protect it as needed. The vessel also has security guards on board, he said.

"This is a national asset and it's protected as such," Fellows said.

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