I recently accompanied two technicians
to Meck Island where we performed maintenance on meteorological
equipment, including a lightning detection sensor and anemometer.
Meck is located about 20 miles north of Kwajalein Island (map).
While no one lives there, dozens of support personnel (most
working for Boeing) are ferried to the island on a daily basis.
Meck is utilized by the US Department of Defense's Ground-Based
Midcourse Defense (GMD) program, the purpose of which is to
develop and potentially deploy an efficient, effective system
that detects, tracks and destroys incoming missiles before they
enter our atmosphere. The program is in its development phase.
Test Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI)
boosters are occasionally launched from one of the silos located
on Meck. Due to the sensitive nature of the facility, we were
required to have an escort while entering certain areas. Thankfully,
no classified equipment was visible in these areas and I was
allowed to take pictures.
