COBRA (radar)

COBRA COunter Battery RAdar is a Counter-battery radar system developed jointly by Thales, Airbus Defence and Space and Lockheed Martin for the French, British and German Armed Forces. It is a mobile Active electronically scanned array 3D radar based on a wheeled chassis for the purpose of enemy field artillery acquisition.^[1]

Bundeswehr COBRA on MAN gl chassis (2005)

There are believed to be about 20,000 Gallium arsenide integrated circuits in each antenna. This enables the equipment to produce the locations of multiple enemy artillery at extremely long ranges, and the radar is able to cope with saturation type bombardments. In addition there is a high degree of automated software, with high speed circuitry and secure data transmission to escape detection from enemy electronic countermeasures.^[2]

For the COBRA mid-life upgrade (2024+) an inertial navigation system from iMAR Navigation is used. ^[3]

Operators

 

Map with COBRA operators in blue

•   France:^[4] 10
•   Germany:^[4] 12 delivered, one donated to Ukraine in 2022^[5]
•   Turkey^[4]
•   Ukraine: In May 2022, it was reported that Ukraine had requested 40 COBRA systems from Germany amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[6] One COBRA system was delivered later in September.^[7]
•   United Kingdom^[4]
•   Jordan^[8]

See also

• AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar
• AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
• Swathi Weapon Locating Radar
• Aistyonok

References

1. . thalesgroup.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-16.
2. "British Army - Artillery - Artillery Locating Devices - Cobra - Armed Forces - a6a11". armedforces.co.uk.
3. von Hinüber, Edgar (2022-01-15). "Inertial Navigation System iPRENA selected for COBRA Mid-LifeUpdate". iMAR Navigation. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
4. "HENSOLDT modernizes COBRA artillery location radars". EDR Magazine. 14 June 2021. from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
5. https://www.forcesoperations.com/des-progres-dans-la-modernisation-du-radar-cobra/
6. Hegmann, Gerhard (5 May 2022). ""Kein Schuss bleibt unentdeckt" – Berlin will Super-Radar an Ukraine liefern" ["No shot goes undetected" – Berlin wants to deliver super radar to Ukraine]. Die Welt (in German). from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
7. "Military support for Ukraine". Federal Government. 6 September 2022. from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
8. United Kingdom Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2016 (PDF) (Report). 20 July 2017. ISBN 9781474147620. (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2022.