Decametric Radar for Missile Defence

The paper presents a new radar design suitable for early detection of ballistic missiles. The Decametric Missile Defence Radar operates in the upper HF frequency band between 30MHz and 40MHz. It has some unique properties that make it well suited for detecting fleeting targets and multi-target raids, including continuous staring over a 90° degree by 50° field of view, radar sensitivity comparable with current missile defence radars, and low-cost due to the use of low operating frequency and low waveform bandwidth. The radar requires bespoke signal processing including acceleration processing and meteor clutter removal. It has a receiver-per-element architecture making it well suited for various noise, interference and jamming rejection algorithms. Several demonstrations have successfully tested the system at reduced scale against targets relevant to missile defence.