OCCAR has concluded a new support contract with Hensoldt to sustain the COBRA counter-battery radar system for France and Germany from 2026 through 2028. The agreement is being finalized a year before the current support arrangement ends, ensuring continuity of engineering and maintenance services. Hensoldt, serving as the system design authority, will continue providing configuration control, incident troubleshooting, technical assistance, field maintenance, quality assurance, IT security management, logistics documentation, and comprehensive obsolescence oversight. COBRA was jointly developed by Thales, Airbus Defence and Space, and Lockheed Martin in the 1990s, with final deliveries made between 2005 and 2007. ESG originally held the support contract before being acquired by Hensoldt in 2024. The COBRA system remains one of the premier ground-based weapon-locating radars, capable of rapidly and accurately identifying enemy artillery, rockets, and mortars. It can detect and classify up to 40 batteries within two minutes. The system’s upgrade package increases detection range to 100 km, adds a second search layer, and includes automated sandstorm mitigation, significantly boosting performance in extreme conditions.
