Can Costly Radar Survive In Alaska?

(CBS)  It looks like a giant golf ball teed up atop a massive oil rig. It's 28 stories tall — and can detect an object the size of a real golf ball from 2,500 miles away.

The new Sea-Based X-Band Radar — SBX for short — is the eyes of the next generation of U.S. missile defense, a system designed to detect, track, and ultimately knock nuclear warheads out of the sky, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports. Its eventual home is under the likely path of any North Korean nukes fired at targets inside the United States.

"It's a very powerful radar, good resolution," says Phillip Coyle, senior advisor at the Center for Defense Information.

But it won't come cheap. The price tag is at $1 billion and counting. This raises the billion-dollar question: Can the SBX not only detect a hostile threat, but do it in the Bering Sea, home to some of the most unforgiving weather in the world?

"All that electronics is out in the middle of the ocean, and salt water and waves and bad weather and all, and electronics don't go well together," Coyle says.

In March, an independent study obtained by the Project On Government Oversight called the SBX "rugged and suitable" for the mission, but cited a letter in which the Alaska Coast Guard command called the waters "inherently dangerous."

"It's a matter of what the system is designed for. Is it designed for that environment? Is it designed to operate in that environment?," says Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency. "The answers to those questions was yes. Yes, it is."

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Watch more of Armen Keteyian's interview with Lt. Gen. Henry Obering.

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But CBS News also obtained an internal document in which lead contractor Boeing asserts "ice accumulation could ... induce enough damage to the rigging to cause it to fall."

An internal Coast Guard communication, dated just last month, depicts a sense of anxiety about the project, warning of the "land mine potential" of any interview that questions "the system's suitability for operating in Alaska waters."

That's a pretty damaging document. "I don't know what they mean by 'land mine,' though," Obering says. "All I can tell you is, again, that the platform is well designed for the mission."

The SBX sat in Pearl Harbor for almost a year during its shakedown phase. Even in the warm Pacific waters, it was dogged by power failures, fuel leaks, and sun and salt disrupting sensitive hardware.

It's an expensive mistake if it misses. "If we can stop one more hit, one nuclear weapon from detonating on an American city, I think we will pay that back many, many times over with respect to that investment," Obering says.

The SBX is currently on sea trials near Hawaii. The hope is that it will be up in Alaska and running its intricate radar next September.

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You can read more about this and other investigative issues at CBS News' blog, Primary Source.

mrdelmas
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/security/printer_2122736.shtml#continue

[mrdelmas]

Good article. Can you please send me a downloadable version of the interview with LT Gen Obering?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

hvignes, we have detection systems, but that's all they are and can not prevent them from reaching their target

What year where you there? I was there 1987-1990

[hvignes]

I too was stationed in Keflavik Iceland during the Cold War and flew radar operational missions to detect manned craft approaching from the North. There is no way we could have detected a missle launched from more that a couple of hundred miles away. The United States still has not developed a detection system that is capable of preventing any type of missle attack from creating havoc with the mainland. Why do we continue to "waste" so many dollars? Let's give Peace a Chance.

This is what happens when you down size the Air Force, I used to be stationed at Naval Air Station, Keflavic Iceland with the 57th Figther Interceptor Squadron. Our mission was to escort Russion Migs and Bears through the airspace, the air force closed its facility not only because of the end of the cold war, but because of downsizing, now only the navy exists there with its P3 aircraft. A billion dollars goes a long way in regards to safe guards. I for one do not agree with proposed piece of electronic hardware. Go back to basics and let men and women do the job it was trained for. This is not only cheaper it also provides employment for the civilian population supporting the military personell and its equipment

[darkfyreaol]

Maybe so. But the current administration can't afford to have a surprise invasion of warluses and penguins storming down through Alaska. Gotta keep the ol' eye on em.

[nothappyatall]

Another multi billion dollar mal functioning piece of krap that will be obsolete before it's ever truly used.