AN EXTREMELY SPECIALIZED VESSEL.
SBX-1 is part of the US Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system. It combines a large X-Band radar—housed in a distinctive air-inflated radome—and a semi-submersible platform. Outfitted with a full suite of dynamic positioning thrusters and marine systems for world-wide operation, SBX-1 stands more than 280 feet tall and displaces more than 50,000 tons.
Glosten provided a wide range of marine technical services to Boeing through the design, acquisition, repositioning, construction modifications, sea trials, and dry transport of this unique vessel. The advancement from a bare platform to an active naval asset required full integration of a core team including the American Bureau of Shipping, Boeing, Raytheon, US Missile Defense Agency, vessel crew, and Keppel Amfels and Kiewit shipyards. The combined requirements for radar function, agency classification, and vessel performance required a complex hybridization of semi-submersible and radar ship engineering.