> Inspired to mobility, I drove down to Brownsville this morning and, > as of 1050 CST 22 March 2005, the Moss Sirius platform was gone from > where it had been on previous sightings (most recently 4 Feb 2005) > and was nowhere in sight. I'm making some inquiries to see if it can > be determined when it left Brownsville/arrived at Ingleside.
A local source says he saw it at AMFELS at the first of March, which is consistent with the new report that it got to Corpus on the 17th.
Missile Defense Agency For Your Information 04-FYI-0045 24 March 2005
Sea-Based X-Band Radar Platform Completes Initial At-Sea Testing Air Force Lt. General Henry "Trey" Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today that the Sea-Based X-Band Radar platform vessel has successfully completed five days of initial at-sea testing, and arrived at Kiewit Offshore Services in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 17. The Sea-based X-band Radar departed the Keppel/ AMFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas on March 13 to conduct "builder's trials." During builder's trials, the radar platform vessel completed a series of tests intended to verify the performance and safety of propulsion, ballasting, power generation, and auxiliary systems.
Another infobit about SBX. Note that if "The XBR was built over a period of 21 months in the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard near Corpus Christi, Texas" is correct, it means that assembly of the radar started no later than July, 2003 or thereabouts.
Raytheon's BMDS X-Band Radar Successfully Lifted Aboard the SBX-1 Platform Tuesday April 5, 1:00 pm ET TEWKSBURY, Mass., April 5, 2005 /PRNewswire/
Raytheon Company's phased array X-Band Radar (XBR) has been successfully lifted and placed aboard its host Sea-Based XBR platform, the SBX-1, marking the completion of a major milestone in support of the Missile Defense Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems designed and built the XBR for the BMDS, drawing on extensive sensor knowledge from its long heritage of radar programs. The nine-story-high XBR is the world's largest X-Band Radar, weighing four million pounds. Raytheon's XBR is the primary payload on the Moss 5 semi-submersible platform, which was prepared by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, the prime contractor for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense phase of BMDS.
As a primary sensor for the BMDS, the XBR will track ballistic missiles and provide the critical discrimination of target complexes. The radar will help identify the hostile warhead from the decoys and countermeasures, providing additional capability for interceptor missiles to protect the U.S. from ballistic missile attacks. Aboard the relocatable SBX-1, the XBR can be positioned in the ocean to support both testing and actual defensive operations.
"The Sea-Based XBR is a significant addition to the midcourse phase of the Missile Defense Agency's layered Ballistic Missile Defense System," said Rick Yuse, vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Missile Defense Business Area.
"This sophisticated sensor will provide both long range precision tracking and high confidence identification of threatening objects and represents a key element of the Missile Defense Agency's vision of protecting our homeland from all ranges of threats in all phases of flight," said Larry Briggs, director, Ground Based Radars, for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
The XBR was built over a period of 21 months in the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard near Corpus Christi, Texas, and was placed on the SBX-1 floating platform using Kiewit's Heavy Lift Device, which is capable of lifting more than 16 million pounds. The radar will soon complete integration into the SBX-1 system, and depart for verification testing in the Gulf of Mexico. Following testing, the vessel will set sail around Cape Horn for its primary base at Adak Island in Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
Air Force Lt. General Henry "Trey" Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today the successful completion of lifting and attaching a 4.6 million pound X-band radar to its sea-going platform. The 17-hour operation was completed April 3 at approximately 10:45 p.m. CDT at Kiewit Offshore Services, Corpus Christi, Texas, by a combined Boeing, Raytheon, Vertex RSI and Kiewit team. Over the next several months the Sea-Based X-band Radar will undergo integration and a wide range of sea trials and exercises prior to beginning its journey this summer to its new home port of Adak, Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands. It is expected to arrive at Adak by the end of this year.
The Boeing-led [NYSE: BA] Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) industry team has integrated the SBX radar onto its sea-going platform in Corpus Christi, Texas, marking a major integration milestone in the program.
i-Newswire, 2005-04-05 -
"The integration of the massive Sea-Based X-Band Radar is a critical step in further advancing the nation's defense against ballistic missile threats by delivering to the government a revolutionary sensor capability," said Boeing Vice President and GMD Program Manager Paul Hoff. "The addition of such a large-scale radar gives us increased confidence in the overall GMD system and added flexibility for defense of the nation."
SBX, a key component of the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense ( GMD ) program, consists of an advanced radar system mounted on a sea-going platform. SBX will be able to track, discriminate and assess long- range ballistic missile threats. SBX passes data to elements of the GMD system to facilitate the interception of missiles by ground-based interceptors. The radar will continue to relay updated targeting information after an interceptor launches its kill vehicle toward the incoming target.
SBX's floating platform, a modified oil-drilling vessel, measures 240 feet wide and 390 feet long. It includes a power plant, bridge and control rooms, living quarters, storage areas and the infrastructure necessary to support the massive X-band radar. The X-band radar, sitting on top of the vessel, is the most sophisticated phased array, electro-mechanically steered X-band radar in the world, consisting of thousands of antennae driven by transmit/receive modules.
The SBX "heavy lift" took place using a heavy lift crane capable of lifting 12,500 tons and built for loading massive structures onto production platforms in the petroleum industry. The overall SBX assembly involved moving the modified SBX platform from AMFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, to the Kiewit yard in Corpus Christi for installation of the radar onto the sea-going platform. Prior to arrival, the SBX platform was modified to accept the radar Drive Platform and Control System ( DPCS ) with the array antenna and electronics installed. The special crane, called a heavy lift device ( HLD ), lifted the SBX DPCS high enough so when the barge was moved away the SBX platform was positioned directly below the DPCS. The HLD lifted the DPCS vertical, held the load until the sea-going platform was in position and then lowered the load onto the platform.
As prime contractor for the GMD program, Boeing is responsible for the development and integration of the GMD system components, including the SBX; ground-based interceptor; battle management, command, control and communication systems; early warning radars; and interfaces to the Defense Support Program early warning satellite system. Raytheon built the SBX radar.
Adak split over rent squabble DOCK TALK: Is Native group landlord moving out processor in favor of missile defense money? By WESLEY LOY Anchorage Daily News (Published: April 12, 2005)
A legal dispute has erupted on far-flung Adak pitting the island's fledgling commercial fishing industry against the Native regional corporation that's redeveloping the former Adak naval base as a civilian town.
The dispute centers on failed lease negotiations between Adak Fisheries and its landlord, Anchorage- based Aleut Corp.
Attorneys for Adak Fisheries in late March sued Aleut in state Superior Court in Anchorage, asking a judge to stop the Native corporation from carrying out a threat to retake the rented building where the fish processor said it had invested millions of dollars.
The lawsuit doesn't specify Aleut's reason for such an action. But at a federal fishery management meeting Friday in Anchorage, several industry players said the building and the wharf it fronts might be needed to support a giant military radar ship soon to be stationed at Adak.
"That's just conjecture," said Clem Tillion, a consultant to the Aleut Corp. "I don't know that for sure."
But Tillion said he understands the military needs storage space and a place to moor support vessels for the radar ship, which will operate offshore. The support vessels might include a warship, he said.
The radar ship is part of the new national ballistic missile defense system that also involves Fort Greely and Kodiak Island in Alaska.
Sandra Moller, president of the Aleut Enterprise Corp., a subsidiary of the Aleut Corp. and landlord for Adak Fisheries, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
But she did say that the military's X-band radar ship is expected to depart in June from Corpus Christi, Texas, and sail around the tip of South America to Adak. The ship should be in place by year's end, she said.
Moller would not say whether the building and dock now occupied by Adak Fisheries are needed for the radar ship. She said that the town has another dock available and that Aleut has not evicted the fish processor.
Adak is in the Aleutian Chain, about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage. The Aleut Corp. took over the former naval base there last year in a land swap with the federal government, and now it's trying to rebirth the island as a civilian fishing town.
Adak Fisheries is the only fish processing plant on Adak and one of the main businesses in the new town, which has about 100 permanent residents.
A letter from an attorney for Aleut said Adak Fisheries had "month-to-month tenancy" and "past- due obligations."
Kjetil Solberg, chief executive of Adak Fisheries, was out of state and could not be reached for comment.
But in court papers, Solberg said that his company has a 30-year lease and that Aleut had threatened to take possession of the fish processing building on April 1.
That would be economically disastrous for Adak Fisheries; it would force the business and its crew of 25 people to shut down, Solberg said.
In 2004 alone, the company invested $3.4 million on its Adak operation, including construction, machinery purchases, electrical work and other improvements, he said.
The lawsuit asks the court to order mediation of the lease dispute and to block Aleut from retaking the building.
Daily News reporter Wesley Loy can be reached at w...@adn.com or 257-4590.
> Adak split over rent squabble > DOCK TALK: Is Native group landlord moving out > processor in favor of missile defense money? > By WESLEY LOY > Anchorage Daily News > (Published: April 12, 2005)
> A legal dispute has erupted on far-flung Adak > pitting the island's fledgling commercial fishing > industry against the Native regional corporation > that's redeveloping the former Adak naval base as > a civilian town.
Wozzle ! I spent 367 days of my mis-spent youth (71-72) on sunny Adak. Lately, given satellite Internet access and DirectTV, I've been thinking it would make a nice, quiet place to retire. Assuming Reeves still flies there, of course :-)
Is the Dinosaur Cage still standing at NAVCOMSTA ?
> The Boeing-led [NYSE: BA] Sea-Based X-Band Radar > (SBX) industry team has integrated the SBX radar > onto its sea-going platform in Corpus Christi, > Texas, marking a major integration milestone in > the program.
> i-Newswire, 2005-04-05 -
> "The integration of the massive Sea-Based X-Band > Radar is a critical step in further advancing > the nation's defense against ballistic missile > threats by delivering to the government a > revolutionary sensor capability," said Boeing > Vice President and GMD Program Manager Paul > Hoff. "The addition of such a large-scale radar > gives us increased confidence in the overall > GMD system and added flexibility for defense of > the nation."
> SBX, a key component of the Missile Defense > Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense ( GMD ) > program, consists of an advanced radar system > mounted on a sea-going platform. SBX will be > able to track, discriminate and assess long- > range ballistic missile threats. SBX passes > data to elements of the GMD system to facilitate > the interception of missiles by ground-based > interceptors. The radar will continue to relay > updated targeting information after an > interceptor launches its kill vehicle toward > the incoming target.
> SBX's floating platform, a modified oil-drilling > vessel, measures 240 feet wide and 390 feet long. > It includes a power plant, bridge and control > rooms, living quarters, storage areas and the > infrastructure necessary to support the massive > X-band radar. The X-band radar, sitting on top of > the vessel, is the most sophisticated phased > array, electro-mechanically steered X-band radar > in the world, consisting of thousands of antennae > driven by transmit/receive modules.
> The SBX "heavy lift" took place using a heavy lift > crane capable of lifting 12,500 tons and built for > loading massive structures onto production > platforms in the petroleum industry. The overall > SBX assembly involved moving the modified SBX > platform from AMFELS shipyard in Brownsville, > Texas, to the Kiewit yard in Corpus Christi for > installation of the radar onto the sea-going > platform. Prior to arrival, the SBX platform was > modified to accept the radar Drive Platform and > Control System ( DPCS ) with the array antenna > and electronics installed. The special crane, > called a heavy lift device ( HLD ), lifted the > SBX DPCS high enough so when the barge was moved > away the SBX platform was positioned directly > below the DPCS. The HLD lifted the DPCS vertical, > held the load until the sea-going platform was > in position and then lowered the load onto the > platform.
> As prime contractor for the GMD program, Boeing > is responsible for the development and integration > of the GMD system components, including the SBX; > ground-based interceptor; battle management, > command, control and communication systems; early > warning radars; and interfaces to the Defense > Support Program early warning satellite system. > Raytheon built the SBX radar.
