Making SBX great again

House authorizers want the Missile Defense Agency to take a second look at the Sea-Based X-Band Radar.

The report accompanying the House Armed Services Committee's draft mark of the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill released this week states:

The committee is aware that the platform has been under-utilized and encourages the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to more fully employ the SBX to address increasing threats and provide support to a greater number ongoing operations and testing events, if required and cost-effective. Further the committee understands that for what could be a small investment in software updates and technology refresh, the SBX could provide a more robust sensor capability for homeland defense.

Therefore the committee directs the Director of the Missile Defense Agency to provide a briefing to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives not later than January 15, 2017, on MDA's historical utilization rates for SBX; the requirements, if any, for increased operational vailability, and resultant costs of such increase; and hardware and or software improvements MDA may pursue to address obsolescence and modernization needs of the SBX, and to obtain enhanced sensor capability (and costs and schedule for such improvements) to address warfighter requirements, if any.

SBX was developed by MDA and in December 2011 the agency transferred responsibility for the vessel's management and physical security to the Navy's Military Sealift Command. MDA retains responsibility for communications, the X-band radar and mission integration.

The floating radar tracks, discriminates and assesses long-range ballistic missiles as a component of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system.

MDA Director Vice Adm. James Syring said in 2014 that the SBX would eventually be moved to the East Coast once the Long-Range Discrimination Radar was developed and deployed.