Missing Pieces in Missile Defense

James Carafano /

Sea based X-band Radar It may look like something straight from a science-fiction novel, but this unusual structure is actually part of the United States Government's Ballistic Missile Defence system. The Sea-based X-band Radar, originally built at Vyborg, is an important part of the American defence system. The structure itself is a floating, self-launched, mobile radar station, built to operate in high winds and heavy sea situations. The Goliath-like construction, with a height of 85 metres (279 feet) and a length of 116 metres (381 feet), has its uses - detecting incoming ballistic missiles.

Is the Obama administration taking North Korea’s threat to launch a long-range missile seriously enough?

With North Korea poised to launch as early as this weekend, you would think we would have deployed our SBX radar. You’d be wrong.

The ship-borne Sea-Based X Band Radar (SBX) is one of the best missile tracking radars in the U.S. inventory. It was used most recently in the successful Dec. 5, 2008, missile-defense test. In that test, we directed an interceptor missile from California right into a missile fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska. That test was designed specifically to simulate an attack from North Korea.

It seems like a no-brainer to deploy the SBX in light of North Korea’s scheduled launch. It cost the taxpayers almost a billion dollars to build this stuff. Why not put it in position to do the job it was built to do?

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