Story highlights North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently said the test launch of an ICBM is in its final stages

The sea-based X-band radar can track long-range launches and provide crucial data

Washington (CNN) The Pentagon has deployed high-tech radar to keep watch for a potential North Korean long-range-missile launch in the coming months, according to a US defense official.

It is the first US military response to Pyongyang's claim it could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The sea-based X-band radar (SB-X) is able to track the long-range launches and provide crucial data.

The Sea-based, X-band Radar (SBX 1) transits the waters of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The radar, whose home port is in Hawaii, has deployed several times in the past to monitor North Korean missile activity. But it can only remain at sea for a certain, undisclosed, period of time, so military officials try to calculate the most significant times, the official said.