What does the SBX-1 do?

The SBX-1, integrated with the BMDS system, provides tracking information of incoming missiles and countermeasures discrimination for GMD interceptor missiles , in order to destroy the threat missile outside the Earth’s atmosphere. It also protects the US and its allied forces from potential missile attacks.9 Nis 2012

X band radar frequency sub-bands are used in civil, military, and government institutions for weather monitoring, air traffic control, maritime vessel traffic control, defense tracking, and vehicle speed detection for law enforcement . X band is often used in modern radars.

Current Status The SBX is currently deployed in the Pacific Ocean to monitor for potential North Korean ICBM test launches. SBX-1 left Hawaii in January 2017. The radar had previously been moored in Pearl Harbor on limited test support status since the beginning of FY2013.

Raytheon’s nine-story-high X-band Radar (XBR) is the world’s largest X-band radar . The sea-based X-band (SBX) platform that it sits on stands more than 250 feet high and displaces more than 50,000 tons. It consists of a semi-submersible oil production platform topped with the XBR.

It is nominally based at Adak Island in Alaska , but has spent significant time at Pearl Harbor in test status.

The SBX-1 is home-ported in Adak Island in Alaska but has spent most of its life in the waters surrounding Hawaii. The vessel was built for a recorded cost of $900 million and is crewed by 86 Civilian and Military personnel.