Update as of 12:00 PM Saturday August 20, 2011

The SBX Radar dome has departed Vigor Shipyards and is traveling through Elliott Bay at 1.5 knots.

Update 2 as of 2:00 PM Saturday August 20, 2011

The SBX Radar dome is parked in the middle of Elliott Bay.

Update 3 as of 3:30 PM Saturday August 20, 2011

The SBX Radar dome is currently moving past the Duwamish Head at 4 knots.

Press release:
The Missile Defense Agency’s Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) will depart August 20th from Seattle, Washington where it has been undergoing scheduled maintenance and planned upgrades at Vigor Shipyards since May.  The work has taken about three months to complete and was consistent with the normal work accomplished at Vigor for other government and commercial vessels.
 
The SBX is one of the sensors for our nation’s Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).  Its mission is to identify ballistic missile threats to our nation and to relay that information to the command and control center for missile defense. 
 
A Naval Vessel Protection Zone, applicable to government vessels in transit and undergoing maintenance at Vigor Shipyards, will be applied to SBX as it departs.  The US Coast Guard will be assisting with the NVPZ. 
 
The SBX fact sheet, still photos and video are available to the media at the MDA public web site www.mda.mil.