Things to which Seattleites are jaded: cruise ships, coffee, that weird radar plane at Boeing field, and bizarre initiatives on the ballot. Things to which Seattleites are not at all jaded: awesome sea-based radar systems pulling in to get work done. Guess which one made the news this week?
The Missile Defense Agency's Sea-Based X-band Radar, better known as SBX, pulled in to Vigor Shipyards for a little much-needed TLC and fixing this week, and it made a scene. Everybody wanted to talk about it! Traffic was bad because people wanted to look at it! You couldn't watch the news without seeing pictures of it! Listen guys, it'll be here for three months. Act like you've been there.
All that aside, the arrival of SBX is legitimately cool enough to get the local news scene and blogosphere all worked up. We collected links to some of the blogs and sites that reported on it for your reading pleasure; most of them have the same information when it comes to text, but the amateur radar pictures from various angles/vantage points are worth a look in their own right.
The best of the cool pictures and videos:
· SBX Passes West Seattle [WSB]
· SBX in Seattle in Daylight [WSB]
· Missile Defense X-band Radar Vessel Passes by Ballard [MB]
· The SBX Radar Arrives in Elliott Bay [Seattle Rex]
· Security Beefed up for SBX Radar [KIRO]
The straightforward newsy posts, for those of you who like words with your pictures:
· SBX Radar Vessel to Transit Puget Sound Towards Seattle's Vigor Shipyards [Missile Defense Agency]
· Radar Ship Subject To High Security to Prevent "USS Cole-Style" Attack [KIRO]
· Missile defense radar to enter strait Monday, sound Tuesday [P-I]
· Huge missile defense radar coming to Seattle [P-I]