The radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to detect the presence of objects such as airplanes, boats, etc. and determining the position and speed thereof. So there are ground radars, sea and air.

The waves sent by the radar transmitter are reflected by the target and the return signals are received and analyzed by the receiver.
The distance is obtained through time to / from signed; direction with the angular position of the antenna at which the return signal has been sensed and the speed is obtained with the frequency shift of the return signal generated by the Doppler effect.

Radar is used in many contexts: in meteorology to detect storms, for air traffic control, for monitoring road traffic, by the military to detect land or flying objects, but also ships, astronautics, etc. .

A fire control radar is a radar specially designed to provide information (mainly the target azimuth, elevation, distance and speed) in a system called « fire control » for calculating a firing solution, that is to say, to provide the necessary information in arms pointing to achieve a target.
Fire control radars operate in three distinct phases:
– Registration Phase and guidance
– Acquisition Phase
– Further Phase

A radar continuously following a single target is called a tracking radar. Most military radars of this type are also used for fire control and the two names are used interchangeably.
This type of radar typically emits a narrow beam of radio waves and powerful to ensure accurate information and further minimize the risk of losing track of the target.

The performance of a fire control radar depends mainly on two factors, resolution and atmospheric conditions. The resolving power of the radar is its ability to distinguish two targets close to each other.
Some radars divide a portion of their resources in pursuit of the target, while another part is assigned to the scanning and monitoring of space. With this radar device may be used both as a fire control radar and as surveillance radar. For this, either the radar switches between the two modes (sweep surveillance sector or issue of direct pulses to the target to continue), or it uses a phased array to generate multiple separate beams each affecting the radars to a task.