Missile detection system unveiled

INGLESIDE, Texas — 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.

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