Performance Stock Awards Narrative (Details) - Performance Shares - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Aug. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Granted		229,646	17,557
Stock awards, vesting period		3 years	3 years
Aggregate grant date fair value		$ 2.1	$ 0.1
Days included in average target stock price			20 days
Stock price hurdle (in USD per share)			$ 10.25
Fair value assumptions, risk free interest rate			1.98%
Expected volatility, maximum			60.16%
Dividend yield			0.00%
Fair value assumptions, expected term	2 years 2 months 12 days		3 years
Existing employees
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Granted		229,646	17,557
Maximum percent of target shars that could be awarded if performance criteria achieved		150.00%

Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Period of Average Stock Price

No definition available.

Name:	keyw_SharebasedCompensationArrangementbySharebasedPaymentAwardPeriodofAverageStockPrice
Namespace Prefix:	keyw_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Stock Price Hurdle

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	keyw_SharebasedCompensationArrangementbySharebasedPaymentAwardStockPriceHurdle
Namespace Prefix:	keyw_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Units Issued upon Achievement of Target, Percent of Target Units, Maximum

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	keyw_SharebasedCompensationArrangementbySharebasedPaymentAwardUnitsIssueduponAchievementofTargetPercentofTargetUnitsMaximum
Namespace Prefix:	keyw_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Awards, Equity Instruments Other than Options, Aggregate Grant Date Fair Value

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	keyw_SharebasedCompensationArrangementbySharebasedPaymentAwardsEquityInstrumentsOtherthanOptionsAggregateGrantDateFairValue
Namespace Prefix:	keyw_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Period which an employee's right to exercise an award is no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardAwardVestingPeriod1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of grants made during the period on other than stock (or unit) option plans (for example, phantom stock or unit plan, stock or unit appreciation rights plan, performance target plan).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardEquityInstrumentsOtherThanOptionsGrantsInPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The estimated dividend rate (a percentage of the share price) to be paid (expected dividends) to holders of the underlying shares over the option's term.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardFairValueAssumptionsExpectedDividendRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The estimated measure of the maximum percentage by which a share price is expected to fluctuate during a period. Volatility also may be defined as a probability-weighted measure of the dispersion of returns about the mean. The volatility of a share price is the standard deviation of the continuously compounded rates of return on the share over a specified period. That is the same as the standard deviation of the differences in the natural logarithms of the stock prices plus dividends, if any, over the period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardFairValueAssumptionsExpectedVolatilityRateMaximum
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The risk-free interest rate assumption that is used in valuing an option on its own shares.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardFairValueAssumptionsRiskFreeInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Expected term of share-based compensation awards, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (f)(2)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=96867065&loc=d3e5070-113901

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SAB Topic 14.D.2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27013229&loc=d3e301413-122809

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SharebasedCompensationArrangementBySharebasedPaymentAwardFairValueAssumptionsExpectedTerm1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_PerformanceSharesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_TitleOfIndividualAxis=keyw_ExistingEmployeesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: