The United States has deployed a sophisticated sea-based radar to the ocean east of Japan to track any North Korean ballistic missile launches, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.

The Sea based X-Band Radar (SBX) looks like an enormous balloon mounted on a large ocean oil rig. The large platform however floats and holds a dome radar designed to track ballistic missiles, then feed the data to a separate command that can fire an interceptor missile to shoot it down.

A Pentagon official speaking on condition of anonymity described the move as a “routine deployment” that is “not in relation to current events.”

Over the past days the United States has sent its most sophisticated weapons to the region in a forceful display of gunboat diplomacy.