Spaceborne bistatic radar¿an overview

It is now apparent that the technology is available to design a practical spaceborne radar. Such a system would provide a greatly improved capability for worldwide surveillance. A spaceborne radar transmitter coupled with passive airborne or ground-based receivers would vastly reduce the vulnerability of the receiver to electronic countermeasures or antiradiation missiles. It is the purpose of the paper to discuss the feasibility, technology issues and requirements of a bistatic system with a spaceborne transmitter and either airborne or ground-based receivers capable of conducting an effective tactical mission. System analyses are performed to identify the best candidate configurations and to estimate their capabilities.