The Ship Report: The Pacific Collector missile tracking ship passes by today

<p><strong>The Ship Report, Wednesday, September 9, 2026</strong></p><p>The Pacific Collector, a US military missile defense tracking ship, will head outbound from Portland Wednesday around 9 am, passing Astoria around 3. </p><p>She&#39;s one of a pair of ships with a similar mission: to gather data about missile defense testing. She&#39;s unusual looking in that she has large radar arrays on deck that look like huge golf balls.</p><p><br></p>