Son of Star Wars: Missle Detection System Unveiled

Military officials offered a peak at a new missile-detecting radar system some have labeled “Son of Star Wars.”

Army officers and contractors unveiled the Sea-based X-band Radar Tuesday amid doubts of its launch capabilities:

The system, which is mounted on a semi-submersible oil-drilling rig, is designed to protect the country against incoming warheads.

It looks almost space age with its giant white sphere, which protects an advanced radar that can track a missile across the horizon. The radar provides the information needed to remotely launch U.S. missiles at incoming warheads.

At a cost of $815 million, the system has yet to be fully tested.

The radar suffered launch failures of ground-based interceptor missiles in December and February. As a result the Missile Defense Agency has postponed more tests until an independent team can review the system for improvements.

And officials had planned to send the 25-story rig into the Gulf of Mexico before the hurricane season began June 1.

Critics have labeled it “Son of Star Wars,” after the nickname for former President Reagan’s missile defense proposal in 1983.

Despite the criticism, Army Col. Michael Smith, project manager of the X-band radar, said he’s optimistic.

“For those of us in the business, we don’t have any doubts,” Smith said. “I’m positive it will work.”

Workers will test the rig’s mobility in the Gulf before it travels this summer around South America to its home in Adak, Alaska, Smith said. Because the rig reaches more than 280 feet high, it can’t travel through the Panama Canal.

And a missile-tracking test will be conducted while the rig is en route, somewhere near Hawaii.

This missle defense system despite technological flaws (so far) is one of the best legacies from the Reagan Presidency.

In December 2002, President Bush planned for the contingency of a rogue state acquiring and firing a nuclear armed ICBM the United States.

The Missle Defense System with X-Band Radar will work as follows:

Early warning satellites and early warning radars detect and track an incoming missile as soon as it clears cloud cover. Space-based infrared satellite systems are also being developed, which could track ballistic missiles throughout their trajectory, and provide the earliest possible trajectory estimates to the command centre.

High-resolution radars on the ground track the warhead and any decoys. They are able to discriminate accurately between closely-spaced objects. The radar provides real-time continuous tracking data to the command centre, as well as data from earlier phases of a ballistic missile trajectory.

The command centre acts as the brains of the missile defence system, controlling and co-ordinating the whole operation. On receiving information about an incoming missile, it communicates target information to one or more ground-based interceptors.

The ground-based interceptor (GBI) is the “weapon” of the missile defence system. Its mission is to intercept and destroy incoming ballistic missile warheads outside the earth’s atmosphere. Each GBI site would be able to accommodate 20 interceptor missiles – and possibly as many as 100. The interceptor missiles – or “kill vehicles” – use on-board sensors, as well as information from the ground, to isolate the warhead from the decoys and debris.

Wow… what a system….. and what a message it sends to North Korea and Iran.

Flap sees North Korea going back to the negotiating table.

In this game of nuclear poker, the USA has just re-raised.