The Air Force‘s Technical Applications Center has announced that a new U.S. ship-based radar system for monitoring international missile and space launches is now fully operational.AFTAC said Monday the Cobra King mobile radar platform is mounted on the USNS Howard O. Lorenzen vessel and is built to deliver intelligence data to the Defense Department and Missile Defense Agency.
The Military Sealift Command operates the missile-range instrumentation ship and works with a crew of military technicians, civilian mariners and contractor personnel.
“As Cobra Judy was decommissioned, Cobra King quickly transitioned to ensure our mission of foreign ballistic missile detection was virtually uninterrupted, and we were able to continuously execute our international treaty monitoring responsibilities,” said Col. Chris Worley, AFTAC commander.
Raytheon is the prime contractor on DoD’s $1.74 billion Cobra program and its partners include General Dynamics, IBM, Northrop Grumman and Kiewit Offshore Services.
