Geosynchronous space based radar concept development for theater surveillance

There is high military utility in a surveillance architecture which would provide all-weather, non-deniable, broad-area, real time coverage of air, ground, and sea targets over multiple, changing areas of concern. This paper discusses some of the operational requirements and key technologies for a notional space based radar (SBR) design supporting the needs of theater commanders for situational awareness across the battlefield. The driving requirement is rapid revisit and update rates on fast moving airborne targets, with real time dissemination to the warfighters. The key technologies are high specific impulse propulsion for orbital transfer, high prime power designs, and large power-aperture product antenna architectures. The final strawman design, derived from the requirements and design trades discussed in this paper, highlights the special capabilities of a geosynchronous (GEO) space based radar for military applications, with residual utility in remote sensing and other commercial applications.