These Are The Wild Radar Ships That Make Missile Defense Possible

America's complex and costly ballistic missile defense programs regularly make the news, and although land based interceptor launch sites or AEGIS equipped Navy ships get the spotlight, few know of the small fleet of highly specialized sensor ships that have made this controversial technology possible.

Whether the focus of a test is shorter ranged theater ballistic missiles or long-range intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple reentry vehicles (MRVs), or even one of our own, we cannot properly learn how to counter or improve them without incredibly accurate and detailed telemetry data.

Since ballistic missile tests occur over vast expanses of ocean, fixed-based radars are not ideal for the tracking job. This is where the DoD's pocket fleet of highly customized tracking, test and ballistic missile defense (BMD) support ships comes in to play, some of which have shadowy front-line duties as well.

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