Ballardites had the chance to see the Missile Defense Agency’s Sea-Based X-band Radar (SBX) vessel as it passed by Tuesday evening.
Hovie Hawk sent us this photo. “Our electronics (garage door opener, remotes, etc.) were on the blink we were told it was a military vessel coming into Seattle that is jamming the signals,” he writes.
SBX is headed to Vigor Shipyard Seattle for maintenance and upgrades, which will take about three months to complete. According to the information from the Missile Defense Agency, “The SBX Radar is one of the sensors for our nation’s missile defense system. Its mission is to identify ballistic missile threats and relay that information to the battle management, command, control and communications system for missile defense.” The radar will not be based in Seattle or operate while here, no word on where it’s headed after the upgrades are complete.