Have you been wondering what that large oil rig with a huge observatory ball on top of it has been doing roaming around Oahu’s south shore, going in and out of Honolulu and Pearl harbor, and sitting just off of Ford Island? Well so did I. Last week as I was coming home from work I could see this giant oil rig looking thing meandering its way down the south shore of the island away from Barbers Point. When I got home it was directly in front of my building and being on one of the higher floors I was able to get some pretty good shots of it as you see here. Still I had no clue what it was except that the large ball on top looked like an observatory. That wouldn’t be too out of place out here being that there are so many observatories on the island.

I had to find out, so I did a little bit of research, asked some friends, and found out it was part of the US Ballistic Missile defense system. It is en route to Alaska where it will be stationed and has been making the trip from the gulf coast of Texas. Apparently it couldn’t fit through the Panama Canal and had to navigate around the southern tip of South America. It is stopping here in the islands only for a few months, probably until the sea calms to the north and then it will be off to Alaska.

The giant stands 28 stories above the water and is 380 feet long. It took $900 million to make and is rumored to be able to detect the movement of something the size of a baseball over a continent away. There will be 75 crew members when the vessel is fully operation and will be able to travel throughout the pacific.

The rig was designed by Dockwise Shipping of the Netherlands, and the X-band Radar was mainly developed by Boeing International Defense Systems along with Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.

If you get a chance to view the massive structure take your camera and be amazed. I wonder if the Defense Department could design something that tracks waves up to the second and surfers could carry while the surf. You’d never miss a set that way.

Aloha,
Erik

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