Advanced ground-based ESCAN radars

Electronically scanned radars (ESCAN radars) are key system elements of ground based military systems being developed for air and missile defense against future threats including tactical ballistic missiles, high agile and low RCS targets like drones, ARMs, UAVs. The radar design is governed on the one hand by challenging requirements on ESCAN radar performance and on the other hand by strict limitations on weight and volume dictated by the need of high system mobility and transportability. First the paper discusses the important role of ESCAN radars within the architecture of mobile air defense systems. Secondly, key characteristics of ESCAN radars operating as primary sensor of an air defense system with a netted distributed architecture are addressed. Advanced ESCAN radars can meet the requirements of both multifunctional performance and high mobility, if advanced technology and innovative algorithms are applied.