MissileThreat.com

Country:	USA

Details

The Cobra Dane radar is deployed at Eareckson Air Station in Shemya, Alaska, located on the western end of the Aleutian chain. Its close proximity to Russia allows Cobra Dane collect data on Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) which are frequently fired to the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka peninsula.(1)

First deployed in 1977, the Cobra Dane is an AN/FPS-108 radar that operates in the 1215-1400 MHz band using a 29m phased array antenna. During the Cold War, its primary mission was to track Soviet ballistic missile warheads aimed at the North Pacific. At present, it is used to track and collect data on Russian ICBMs and SLBMs test launches directed toward the Kamchatka impact area and the North Pacific, although it is also capable of tracking targets in space at 40,000 km. In addition, the Cobra Dane radar is used to verify, safeguard, and monitor the reductions of nuclear arms under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).(2)

In 2004, hardware installation and software upgrades to the Cobra Dane radar were completed. To test these upgrades, the AN/FPS-108 radar tracked a foreign missile launch and participated in an integrated ground test. Until September 2005, however, the upgraded Cobra Dane radar had not participated in a flight test event as the primary fire control radar.(3)

On September 26, 2005, a C-17 aircraft-launched missile from the Pacific allowed the Cobra Dane to track missile and relay the information to fire-control systems. It had been difficult to launch a test missile in the right direction toward Cobra Dane, because the U.S. does not possess any launch sites in that location. The often-traveled trajectory of missiles and interceptors going between Vandenberg Air Force Base, California and the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific is sufficiently south to be out of range of the Cobra Dane radar. Designed to track Russian missile launches during the Cold War, its northern location also makes the Cobra Dane radar of especial use for tracking missile launches coming from North Korea or China.

 

 

 

Footnotes

 

1. General Accounting Office, “Status of Ballistic Missile Defense Program in 2004, 31 March 2004.
2. Mark Farmer, “Air Forces Update: USA Takes its Training to the Edge in Alaska,” Jane’s Defence Weekly, 11 March 1998; GlobalSecurity.org, “AN/FPS-108 Conra Dana,” available at http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/cobra_dane.htm, accessed on 26 July 2005.
3. General Accounting Office, “Status of Ballistic Missile Defense Program in 2004, 31 March 2004. Nuclear Threat Initiative, “Missile Defense Agency Happy With Simultaneous Booster Development,” 12 November 2003, available at http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2003/11/12/cdf67d78-5f50-4849-b6ce-dfdd0c9b33d1.html, accessed on 26 July 2005.

Alaskan Cobra Dane Radar Tracks C-17 Aircraft-Launched ICBM

September 26, 2005 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News

The Missile Defense Agency today announced the successful completion of a test of the Cobra Dane radar located at Shemya, Alaska, and of the fire control system which relays information to Colorado Springs or Fort Greely Alaska, which would control the launch of an interceptor against an incoming missile.
        A missile was launched by parachuting it from a C-17 aircraft over the Pacific some 800 miles (1280km) from Shemya, and then having the missile’s engines ignite and travel across the face of the Cobra Dane radar. The exercise was the first test of the Cobra Dane radar for missile defense purposes. The often-traveled trajectory of missiles and interceptors going between Vandenberg Air Force Base, California and the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific is sufficiently south to be out of range of the Cobra Dane radar. Designed to track Russian missile launches during the Cold War, its northern location also makes the Cobra Dane radar of especial use for tracking missile launches coming from North Korea or China.
From MDA:

After the missile was dropped from the aircraft, a parachute deployed to stabilize and slow the missile. The missile’s first stage rocket motor then ignited, sending the missile downrange. The target missile’s flight was successfully tracked by the Cobra Dane radar, and the data obtained by Cobra Dane was then used to construct a Weapon Task Plan, or firing solution, that was fed into the systems fire control system manned by military “warfighters” in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Ft. Greely, Alaska, who currently operate the interceptor missiles now deployed in Alaska and California, as well as the sensors and radars that provide operational detection and tracking information. …

Launching a missile from an aircraft provided an operationally realistic trajectory and an opportunity to fly across the face of the Cobra Dane radar. The radar has not been available for use during previous flight tests because it is well outside the area of the existing missile test range that stretches between the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean to the California coast. …The exercise completed today marks the first time that data obtained from an actual missile tracked by Cobra Dane was fed into the missile defense fire control system to obtain a firing solution.

 (Article, Link) 

» Chinese media coverage of missile launch, tracking

» More stories on: Testing - American, Detection and Tracking

» Missile system details for: Cobra Dane Radar