FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Sea-Based X-Band Radar platform is back in Pearl Harbor. It was seen offshore of Keehi Lagoon during the mid-afternoon yesterday.
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$815M radar 'golf ball' returns
The giant platform will be repaired at Pearl Harbor
An $815 million Sea-Based X-Band Radar returned to Pearl Harbor yesterday for repairs.
The distinctive radar platform, which looks like a golf ball on top of a coffee table, is 28-stories high -- 10 stories taller than Aloha Tower, and is mounted on a self-propelled semi-submersible platform.
A Navy spokesperson said the ship has been in island waters since January undergoing sea trials.
The Navy did not say how long the radar platform, which weighs 50,000 tons, will be at Pearl Harbor.
The apparatus is part of a missile defense network and is advanced enough to identify baseball-size objects thousands of miles away.
It's designed to travel by sea to any location where the military needs to track missiles.
The radar platform first arrived in Pearl Harbor in January for repairs before heading to Alaska. In late March, the ship left Pearl Harbor, but had to return four days later to fix a leak.
The ship left again in May. At the time, the Navy said it was headed to Alaska.
CORRECTION
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
» The 28-story Sea-Based X-Band Radar, which returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs Saturday, belongs to the Missile Defense Agency. The headline on Page A19 Sunday erroneously said it belongs to the Navy.
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