A new compilation (large pdf) of official records, news releases and other documentation provides a fairly comprehensive account of the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), an ambitious missile defense program intended to track warheads in flight and to cue ground-based interceptor missiles.
The SBX, constructed aboard a modified semi-submersible oil platform, departed Hawaii last month and arrived this week in the waters near Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain, according to a February 7 release from the Missile Defense Agency.
Hundreds of pages of background material on the program were assembled by independent researcher Allen Thomson.
“The SBX story has been an interesting one, in my opinion, and I think it might become even more interesting when the history of NMD/GMD is written,” Mr. Thomson told Secrecy News. “Right now, I’m waiting to see if the second CS-50 platform nearing completion at Severodvinsk is going to be bought by Boeing for SBX-2.”
See “Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) Sourcebook” by Allen Thomson (19 MB PDF).
Related background is also available from the Congressional Research Service in “Sea-Based Ballistic Missile Defense — Background and Issues for Congress” (pdf), updated December 19, 2006.
The Administration has continued to push for further clean energy investments, but faces a difficult fiscal environment in Congress – which has meant shortfalls for many priority areas like funding for CHIPS and Science.
An analysis of the President’s FY25 budget proposal by the Alliance for Learning Innovation found a lot to like.
We’ve created a tool to monitor the progress of federal actions on extreme heat, enhance accountability, and to allow stakeholders to stay informed on the evolving state of U.S. climate-change resilience.
Wickerson was a few years into their doctoral work in material science and engineering at Northwestern University when the prospect of writing a policy memo with FAS cropped up at a virtual conference.