COBRA GEMINI radar

With the end of the cold war, measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) data collection requirements have changed. Formerly, the primary MASINT task was to collect information on foreign strategic missile systems. Today's data collection problem is to collect information on proliferating and emerging tactical ballistic missile capabilities in a number of rest-of-world (RoW) countries. The optimum solution to this data collection problem is an airborne phased array radar. However, this solution is expensive and time-intensive to implement. Therefore, key and consistent recommendation of studies addressing the RoW data collection problem has been to develop a small, transportable imaging radar. This paper presents details of a transportable dual (S and X) band radar development program, named COBRA GEMINI, to provide this collection capability. The program is being managed by the Air Force's Electronic Systems Center (ESC), with support from MIT/Lincoln Laboratory and the MITRE Corporation.