Sea Based X-Band Radar

We just had to run this US Department of Defence image because it rates as remarkable on several counts. That’s the Norwegian heavy lift vessel MV Blue Marlin with a deck cargo of a Sea Based X-Band Radar entering Pearl Harbor a few days ago after completing a 15,000-mile journey from Corpus Christi, Texas. The Sea Based X-Band Radar is a combination of the world's largest phased array X-band radar carried aboard a mobile, ocean-going semi-submersible oil platform. The radar is capable of highly advanced, ballistic missile detection while discriminating a hostile warhead from decoys and countermeasures. The platform, which is much larger than it looks, will undergo minor modifications, maintenance and routine inspections in Pearl Harbor before completing its voyage to its homeport of Adak, Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands. See inside for more pics, including one which will suddenly jolt your senses into just how big the subjects of this image are.

The 282-foot high 4-million pound radar assembly will permanently sit atop its converted offshore oil rig base for what will become the Sea-Based X-band Radar for the Missile Defense Agency.

The radar's mobility gives it the capability to be positioned on the ocean to support Missile Defense Agency tests and also operationally support defense of homeland, deployed forces and allies and friends.

Be sure to check out the image library for this one.