New Radome Installed on Sea-Based X-Band Radar, Revealing Missile Defense System’s Core
PEARL HARBOR, HI – The U.S. military has completed the replacement of the protective radome on the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), a key component of the nation’s missile defense network. The radome, resembling a giant golf ball, was removed last week for routine maintenance, offering a rare public glimpse of the powerful radar antenna beneath.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) transferred operational and maintenance responsibility for the floating radar platform to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) in December 2011, while retaining responsibility for the radar itself. This marks the first time the SBX has had its radome replaced as its deployment.
Drone Services Hawaii was contracted to document the radome’s removal and the installation of the new structure. The company will also conduct a full exterior and interior inspection, creating 3D models of the system once installation is complete, according to Mike Elliott of Drone Services Hawaii. Photos of the radome being deflated and lifted by a crane have circulated on social media platform X.
The SBX is a self-propelled, semi-submersible platform crewed by U.S. merchant Mariners. “It is indeed a unique part of the U.S. missile defense system with a very powerful radar atop…,” stated Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, commander of the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command.
According to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the radar’s function is to ”obtain missile tracking information while an incoming threat missile is in flight, discriminates between the opposed missile warhead and any countermeasures, and provides that data to interceptor missiles.”
The SBX currently operates round-the-clock, monitoring for potential missile launches in the Pacific Ocean.A timeline for its redeployment following the radome replacement has not yet been announced. The MDA previously hosted a media tour of the platform in March 2023 while it was undergoing maintenance and upgrades, but the radar was still covered by its radome at that time.
