US Navy charmed by Cobra King
The USNS Howard O. Lorenzen is a 534-feet-long Missile Range Instrumentation Ship operated by the Military Sealift Command to conduct missions sponsored by the U.S. Air Force. (Photo: US Coast Guard)
US Navy demonstrates confidence in Cobra King radar system with new operations and maintenance services contract.
Raytheon Intelligence & Space has been awarded a $340 million firm-fixed-price ID/IQ contract for mobile sensors operations and maintenance services of the Cobra King radar system.
Work is expected to be completed by October 2031 and will be performed at Patrick Space Force base, Florida, and outside continental US locations.
Cobra King, formerly known as Cobra Judy Replacement, replaced the original Cobra Judy system, which has reached the end of its service life.
It is a mobile dual-band range instrumentation radar suite that has been installed on at least two US Navy vessels, the USNS Howard O Lorenzen and the USNS Invincible.
The upper radar is the operating S-band phased-array radar designed by Northrop Grumman and its lower radar is an X-band system by Raytheon, predetermined for more accurate target tracking.
The radar suite will provide the Navy with a long-loiter ballistic missile data collection capability.
In late 2003, Raytheon was contracted by the US Navy to develop the Cobra King mission equipment. The new radar suite offers significantly increased mission capability due to the advanced technology it employs.
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