el cid again
Posts: 16859
Joined: 10/10/2005 Status: offline
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There is a great deal to radar tactics. There also was little expertise in WW2, and a lot of misconceptions. Savo Island, occurring very early, is a case of total failure to exploit radar successfully. Even when it worked, the equipment was not trusted to give useful information by senior officers. The range of detection of a radar is not really twice the radar's range. For a surface sensor, the range is typically only about 10% better, and theoretically about 20% better. [For an aircraft sensor, it could be about 200% though] These values assume EQUAL signal sensitivity, but that would not really often be true. Japanese equipment rarely used the latest ideas, and were not very sensitive. As well, Allied radars would generally be more powerful. So it gets complicated fast: the more powerful radars could be heard farther away. But the less sensitive receiver equipment would not detect as far away. For a surface vs surface case, however, things simplify: usually the horizon limits you, not power or sensitivity. So a passive ECM intercept is in practical terms 110% the practical detection range of the radar - just as it remains today. FYI
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