Text Fwd: Missile defense radar to enter Puget Sound (Washington state)

* Text fwd from Bruce Gagnon on May 10, 2011

http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/2011/05/09/missile-defense-radar-to-enter-strait-monday-sound-tuesday/

Missile defense radar to enter strait Monday, sound Tuesday

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Sea-Based X-band Radar vessel will enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca late Monday and the Puget Sound [Washington state] on Tuesday, according to the agency.

“The first view of the SBX for some residents in the Pacific Northwest will likely be when the vessel is just off shore before entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca tonight,” the agency said Monday. “It should be visible from Port Angeles on Tuesday morning. The vessel can be seen from various points as it makes its way through Puget Sound to Elliott Bay and to Vigor Shipyards Seattle, arriving late Tuesday night.”

Boeing won a $27.1 million contract to perform maintenance and upgrades on the huge system. The work is set to take about three months at Seattle’s Vigor Shipyards.
People are not allowed within 100 yards of SBX while it is in navigable U.S. waters and moored at Vigor Shipyard.
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Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) is a floating, self-propelled, mobile radar station designed to operate in high winds and heavy seas. It is part of the U.S. Defense Department Ballistic Missile Defense System.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar is mounted on a fifth generation Norwegian-designed, Russian-built CS-50 semi-submersible twin-hulled oil-drilling platform. The hull was originally built at Vyborg Shipyard.

The radar is designed and built by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems for Boeing, the prime contractor on the project for MDA.
Cost: $900 million
More information found here


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