The Missile Defense Agency announced the successful installation of a mooring system for the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX). The mooring system, a key piece of infrastructure for the radar, has been installed at the SBX’s homeport in Adak, Alaska. Manson Construction, a subcontractor to Boeing, completed the installation three weeks ahead of schedule.
The mooring system will ensure the SBX is safely secured to the ocean seabed while at its homeport in Kuluk Bay. The mooring system consists of eight 75-metric ton anchors attached to the sea floor, providing maximum safety for the vessel in the sometimes harsh Aleutian Island weather.
The SBX is a unique combination of an advanced X-band radar with a mobile, ocean-going, semisubmersible platform that provides the Ballistic Missile Defense System with an extremely powerful capability to track, locate and intercept threatening ballistic missiles before they can strike their target. (ends)
(Source: US Missile Defense Agency; dated Sept. 19, web-posted Sept. 20, 2007)
