SBX ABM Radar: Somewhere Over the Rainbow?

SBX radar, Pearl Harbor
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All military technologies have their teething periods, and especially advanced examples often have longer ones. The SBX X-band radar offers a quantum leap in capabilities, and can even be floated into position in order to perform its missile-tracking function.

As our June 2005 article noted, the SBX was scheduled to arrive in Adak, Alaska by late December 2005. It remains at Hawaii, however, owing to a number of issues and glitches that have yet to be fully worked out. POGO offers a summary of those issues, via a link to a Chicago Tribune article an a leaked “For Official Use Only” document it was based upon entitled “SBX-1 Operational Suitability and Viability Assessment.”