Up to $65M to Maintain Key COBRA DANE Radar

COBRA DANE(click to view full) March 29/11: Raytheon Technical Services Co. in Dulles, VA receives an $11.9 million firm-fixed-price radar operations and maintenance contract modification. The firm will ensure the availability of the COBRA DANE radar facility, to a performance standard that can “collect 100% of the tasked data collection opportunities that pass through its field of view.” Work will be performed in Indianapolis, IN. The AFISRA/A7KRB at Patrick AFB, FL manages the contract (FA7022-11-C-0010). Raytheon’s April 25/11 release placed the contract total at up to $65 million, but discussions with Raytheon confirmed that their figure included the 4 option years, as well as the initial base year announced by the Pentagon. The AN/FPS-108 Cobra Dane radar sits on Shemya island in the Alaskan Aleutians. It has a face nearly 100 feet in diameter, and plays a number of key roles within the USA’s advanced long range radar network. One of its most important “tasked data collection opportunities” is its constant monitoring of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula and Kura ballistic missile test range, hence that 100% requirement. Other key missions include monitoring the growing space hazard of orbital debris, and missile defense monitoring for NORAD and the US Missile Defense Agency.