Search and target acquisition radar for short range air defence systems: A new threat environment - A new solution

A new radar sensor designed to meet the demands of the future threat environment of air defense systems and to serve as search and target acquisition radar in short range air defense systems is presented. The design makes use of several technology advances, such as planar array phase controlled antenna, solid state transmitters, frequency agility combined with Doppler processing, and a multimode software-controlled signal processing. The development of the threat environment is briefly considered, and the consequential requirements for the air defense system are investigated. The general principles and design of the radar are addressed, and the data and performance of the system, as calculated and as verified with a prototype system, are presented.