Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) Developments

Verbal approval to explore the CJR concept was received on 15 January 2002. In a new initiative, the State Department transferred funds in July 2002 to the Department of Defense to help preserve a technical collection capability critical to the State Department's verification mission. These funds were used to establish a program to replace the aging COBRA JUDY radar, a sea-borne system that contributes to verifying the START Treaty and characterizing foreign ballistic missile systems, as well as a Program Office, and enable the United States to acquire a replacement several months early, saving about a year in development time and hedging against a gap in collection coverage. Cobra Judy Replacement was transferred from the Air Force to the Navy, per an Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Milestone A Acquisition Decision Memorandum dated 6 August 2002.

The Cobra Judy Replacement program successfully reached Milestone B/C, resulting in an approved Acquisition Strategy. The 2003 CAIG estimate is consistent with the approved Acquisition Strategy. The PB 05 submission reflected the current CAIG estimates.

On 18 December 2003 the US Navy awarded Raytheon Company a $1.04 billion letter contract for the Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) Mission Equipment program. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems will replace the existing Cobra Judy -- an integrated, computer-driven surveillance and data collection radar system that supports U.S. treaty monitoring activities -- with a dual-band radar suite consisting of X-band and S-band active phased array sensors and other related mission equipment.

The FY2005 DOD budget request included $80.7 million in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy, for the Cobra Judy program. This level of funding sustained the important developmental effort associated with the Cobra Judy program to field a replacement platform in 2012, but did not fully restore funding to complete the development effort. On 11 May 2004 the Senate Armed Services Committee expressed concern that complementary developmental activities in the Navy, the Missile Defense Agency, and the Intelligence Community were not being fully coordinated to ensure the development of a comprehensive measurement and signatures intelligence (MASINT) system that supports the intelligence needs of national decision makers; the missile warning requirements of ballistic missile defense systems; and, the operational needs of the Navy. Each of these organizations was developing capabilities for core requirements that also can provide support and reinforcing capabilities for the other. The committee urged the Secretary of Defense to review the radar developmental activities associated with the Cobra Judy, the Navy's DD(X) program, and ballistic missile defense to ensure the integration of complementary capabilities, the development of integrated operational procedures, and the elimination of unnecessary redundancy. The committee recommended an increase of $13.0 million in PE 35149N, to restore the funding necessary to complete developmental activities associated with the Cobra Judy replacement program.

The Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) preliminary design review (PDR) took place 9-11 February 2005 at the Sudbury, MA, facilities of prime contractor Raytheon. At that time it was planned that the PDR was to be followed by another major review, the critical design review, in January 2006, with the Navy planning to start fielding the CJR in 2011.

In October 2005 the Senate Committee on Armed Services, to which was referred the bill (S. 1803) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2006 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities, recommended a new provision (section 437) that would express the sense of the Senate that it strongly supported development and integration of this sophisticated solid-state phased array radar technology and ship as a prudent investment in intelligence collection that monitors foreign threats and supports the acquisition of our ballistic missile defensive systems. The committee further urged the continued funding in the future-years defense program of the COBRA JUDY Replacement Program by the Secretary and the Director of National Intelligence in order to support national defense requirements.

Raytheon Company, with principal teammate Northrop Grumman Electronics, successfully completed a Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) Mission Equipment (ME) Program hardware Critical Design Review (CDR) March 29, 2006. The intensive CDR event took place during five days, concluding with the S-Band radar design presentation to the U.S. Navy March 7-8, with a closeout review March 29. Successful completion of the CJR ME Program CDR demonstrated to the Navy that the X-Band and S-Band radar hardware designs are complete and ready for construction. The successful CDR set the stage for the next major program milestone: the post-CDR in-process review in the spring of 2006.

In March 2006 Northrop Grumman Corporation had designed, developed and successfully tested a new S-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology intended to provide the US Navy with a smaller, lighter and more capable alternative to current S-band, ship-based radars. The test, held at Northrop Grumman's outdoor integration test facility in Baltimore, utilized a sub-array of the S-band antenna being developed by the company in support of the Navy's Cobra Judy Replacement (CJR) program. CJR is an integrated, surveillance and ballistic missile data collection radar system designed to support U.S. treaty monitoring activities.

The test demonstrated the full power operation of the antenna, including the full pulse width and duty cycle required for the CJR mission. The demonstration also proved the enhanced capabilities of Northrop Grumman's S-band high power transmit/receive modules. The prototype antenna building block was built using standard processes and equipment that will be used during the full-scale production of the antenna. Northrop Grumman is currently building a pilot production unit to provide additional risk reduction as the program transitions into the material procurement and build phase of the CJR contract.

By June 20, 2006 Raytheon Company had successfully completed the final critical design review (CDR) in a series of reviews required to transition the Cobra Judy Replacement Mission Equipment (ME) Program from the design to the build and integration phase. The intensive three-day review, which included final design presentations, demonstrated to the U.S. Navy that the radar and related mission equipment were ready for construction.

The U.S. Navy procured one CJR for the U.S. Air Force using only Research, Development, Test and Evaluation funding. CJR will be turned over to the U.S. Air Force at Initial Operational Capability for all operations and maintenance support. Program activities focused on installation and final integration of the X and S-band radars onto the ship at Kiewit Offshore Services (KOS) following completion of radar production and initial Integration and Test (I&T) at Raytheon and Northrop Grumman (NG). Raytheon and its subcontractors completed I&T of the X-band radar and X/S ancillary equipment at KOS. The S-band radar arrived at KOS on February 19, 2011. The United States Naval Ship (USNS) Howard O. Lorenzen (Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (T-AGM) 25) completed at-sea Builder’s Trials (BT) in March 2011. The ship departed VT Halter Marine (VTHM) and arrived at KOS in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2011 (3QFY11).