DOD plans to invest over $278 million to operate, maintain, and modernize its Cobra Dane radar system—which helps defend against incoming missiles and tracks space objects such as satellites and debris. These investments are needed because the system has been operating for over 40 years, and key components are obsolete.
The Air Force occasionally has to take Cobra Dane offline to address failing parts or for routine maintenance, but we found that DOD has a mobile radar system it can use when Cobra Dane is scheduled to be offline.