Naval radar in a littoral environment

The changed political situation in the world forces navies to reconsider their roles and missions. As a consequence, the naval operation areas shift from warfare on the open sea to littoral warfare. In modern scenarios full scale, multiple engagements attack on a naval convoy is less likely. Instead, the threat is more likely to come from weapons launched from the land or small, high-speed ships. Additionally, detection and tracking of surface targets becomes a more important sensor function. This paper discusses the impact of littoral warfare on the design of naval radar. The main aspects discussed in this paper are the benefit of accurate Doppler information, high radar stability, use of Doppler-polarimetry and sensor flexibility.