This is a list of different types of radar.
Detection and search radars
Search radars scan great volumes of space with pulses of short radio waves. They typically scan the volume two to four times a minute. The waves are usually less than a meter long. Ships and planes are metal, and reflect radio waves. The radar measures the distance to the reflector by measuring the time of the roundtrip from emission of a pulse to reception, dividing this by two, and then multiplying by the speed of light. To be accepted, the received pulse has to lie within a period of time called the range gate. The radar determines the direction because the short radio waves behave like a search light when emitted from the reflector of the radar set's antenna.
Search
Early Warning (EW) Radar Radar Systems
Ground Control Intercept (GCI) Radar
Airborne Early Warning (AEW) Airborne ground surveillance (AGS) Over-the-Horizon (OTH) Radar Target Acquisition (TA, TAR) Radar Systems Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Systems Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Systems Surface Search (SS) Radar Systems Surface Search Radar Coastal Surveillance Radar Harbour Surveillance Radar Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) Radar Height Finder (HF) Radar Systems Gap Filler Radar Systems
Targeting radars
Targeting radars utilize the same principle but scan smaller volumes of space far more often, usually several times a second or more, while a search radar will scan a larger volume less frequently. Missile lock-on describes the scenario where a targeting radar has acquired a target, and the fire control can calculate a path for the missile to the target; in semi-active radar homing systems, this implies that the missile can "see" the target that the targeting radar is "illuminating". Some targeting radars have a range gate that can track a target, to eliminate clutter and electronic countermeasures.
Missile guidance systems
Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) Air-to-Surface Missile (ASM) Surface-to-air missile (SAM) Systems Surface-to-Surface Missiles (SSM) Systems
Others
Target Tracking (TT) Systems
AAA Systems
Multi-Function Systems
Fire Control (FC) Systems
Acquisition Mode
Semiautomatic Tracking Mode
Manual Tracking Mode
Airborne Intercept (AI) Radars
Search Mode
TA Mode
TT Mode
Target Illumination (TI) Mode
Missile Guidance (MG) Mode
Active electronically scanned array (AESA)
Battlefield and reconnaissance radar
Battlefield Surveillance Systems
Counter-battery radar
Battlefield Surveillance Radars
Tactical Radar Identification and Location System
Countermortar/Counterbattery Systems
Shell Tracking Radars
Air Mapping Systems
Side looking airborne radar (SLAR) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Perimeter Surveillance Radar (PSR) Red Dawn Radar System Ground Surveillance Radar Man portable radar
Instrumentation radars
Instrumentation radars are used to test aircraft, missiles, rockets, and munitions on government and private test ranges. They provide Time, Space, Position, Information (TSPI) data both for real time and post processing analysis.
Repurposed NASA and military radars
AN/FPS-16
MPQ-33/39
MPA-25
FPS-134
FPS-14
TPQ-18
FPQ-17
Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Weibel MFTR series Weibel MSL series Weibel SL series
Custom
AN/MPS-39 Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) TAMTS BAE Rule ROTR ROSA ROSA II COSIP Dynetics MRS
Fuzes and triggers
Radar proximity fuzes are attached to anti-aircraft artillery shells or other explosive devices, and detonate the device when it approaches a large object. They use a small rapidly pulsing omnidirectional radar, usually with a powerful battery that has a long storage life, and a very short operational life. The fuzes used in anti-aircraft artillery have to be mechanically designed to accept fifty thousand g, yet still be cheap enough to throw away.
Weather-sensing radar systems
Weather radars can resemble search radars. This radar uses radio waves along with horizontal, dual (horizontal and vertical), or circular polarization. The frequency selection of weather radar is a performance compromise between precipitation reflectivity and attenuation due to atmospheric water vapor. Some weather radars uses doppler shift to measure wind speeds and dual-polarization for identification of types of precipitations.