HIGH ALTITUDE SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (SAR) FOR BALLISTIC MISSILE MISSIONS

SAR (SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR) IS A RADAR IMAGING TECHNIQUE THAT PRODUCES HIGH RESOLUTION MAPS OF THE RADAR CROSS SECTION OF A SCENE BY PROCESSING THE COHERENT PHASE HISTORY OF THE RETURN SIGNAL OVER MULTIPLE PULSES. SAR SYNTHESIZES AN ANTENNA THE LENGTH OF WHICH IS TWICE THE DISTANCE THE SAR PLATFORM FLIES DURING ONE COHERENT DWELL; SINCE THE AZIMUTH RESOLUTION IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO ANTENNA LENGTH, SAR ACHIEVES MUCH SMALLER AZIMUTH RESOLUTION THAN CONVENTIONAL RADAR PROCESSING. SAR CAN PROVIDE DATA FOR TARGETING BEFORE LAUNCH OR FOR INFLIGHT UPDATES. BETTER TARGET DATA WOULD RESULT IN BETTER BALLISTIC MISSILE POINTING AND ACCURACY. SAR DATA FOR TERMINAL POSITION FIXING CAN INCREASE MISSILE ACCURACY BY PROVIDING THE GUIDANCE COMPUTER WITH A HIGH-RESOLUTION MAP OF THE GROUND.