Ship Radar Cross Section Determination and Reduction

Radar signature is the most important of ship's signatures since radar is the most effective sensor for detecting the presence of a ship at sea. Radar signature i.e. radar cross section (RCS) is the measure of reflective strength of a target and gauges the amount of energy reflected back in direction of radar, thus, governs how detectable an object is by radar. The reduction is RCS will make the ship more difficult to detect thus operationally more effective allowing optimization of surprise and initiative, and increase the effectiveness of ship’s electronic warfare equipment & radar decoys thus making the ship less vulnerable to any attack and more survivable. RCS has thus become a very important design parameter for all military platforms. Radar is extensively used in military platforms during detection, classification, tracking and engagement cycle today. The radar signature management technologies continue to develop in parallel with increasing detection abilities of radar.