Posted on 09/05/2006 1:53:01 PM PDT by theBuckwheat
The future of the US's much-hyped, $815m Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) platform is in serious doubt after a raft of sceptics expressed doubts that the sea monster could ever effectively operate in its intended final mooring off Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
The SBX - designed to detect incoming ICBMs - is currently wallowing in Hawaii after repairs necessitated by a light battering it received during its first ocean voyage from the Gulf of Mexico, Defencetech reports. Its eventual home is described by the Chicago Tribune as "unforgiving [stretch] of the Bering Sea where winter weather can be so violent that the islands have been nicknamed 'the birthplace of winds'."
And that's where SBX might come seriously unstuck. Philip Coyle, assistant secretary of defense from 1994 to 2001 in the Clinton administration, commented: "That radar is absolutely packed with sensitive electronics, and...salt water, wind and waves don't go well with sensitive electronics.
"The bottom line is that the designers of this system didn't begin to contemplate the realistic conditions under which the X-Band would have to operate. When you look at all the facts, you really have to wonder what the people who designed this thing were thinking..."
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
Wow. You mean the US Navy can't use radar?
Perhaps if they had spent a bit more on it...
This has me salty...
Must've bought a ChiCom-built platform at Wally Mart...
$815 for a radar platform. Was it made out of Legos?
This radar is a product of the Missile Defense Agancy without much (hardly any) cooperation or blessing by the U.S. Navy. The Navy, I think it is safe to say, didn't want any part of this thing. The Navy is involved in warships....which this thing unquestionably is not.
$815.00.... lol
The part of the Aleutians it's going to?
The natives call it, "The birthplace of all wind", or something --tailor made for Dorothy and Toto, 'cept -40.
Sounds like the peacenik lobby, to me. Anytime you plan to spend money on the military, you can expect a Democrat to come up with some reason why it's a waste.
And this thing wasn't placed on land because.....
See #15.
I don't want to put too fine a point on this but, as a person who is the product of an unusual education, I thought I would point out that "founder" in the word for a ship or vessel in trouble in shoal water or on the rocks. "Flounder" is is fish (noun) or it can mean "To move or act clumsily and in confusion." But usually, for a vessel at sea, the word preferred is "founder."
Don't take offense. I was trained as a newspaper editor by guys thatwent snakey over things like this!
As a resident of Hawaii I would be most pleased to see SBX permanently moored in the local waters.
We are, after all, the primary targets for the North Korean missiles.
Lol. Nit-picking?
WARSHIP!!! Article is about BARGE!!!
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