Warhorse64
Posts: 154
Joined: 12/9/2007
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In a nutshell, radar operates by bouncing radio waves off a target, and listening for the echoes. The time that the pulse takes to go from radar to target and back to radar, combined with the known speed of radio waves, allows the range to the target to be determined, the direction the transmitter dish is pointed gives you the direction to the target, and the elevation angle of the transmitter dish combined with the range to the target allows for a reasonable estimate of the target's altitude to be made. By integrating multiple echoes, one can determine the target's course and speed. However, while any radar can eventually give you the above information, only a very few special types of set (synthetic aperture and inverse synthetic aperture sets) have the resolution necessary to have a chance of identifying a target on their own. If the target is radiating from a radar of its own, and your radar is working in conjunction with what are termed Electronic Support Measures (ESM, basically listening to the other guy's emissions), this may provide enough information to identify the target. Similarly, if someone can get eyeballs on the target, this may provide identification --- or not. Ever try to identify the nationality of an airliner flying overhead at 30,000 feet? So in the situation you describe, you knew something was there, but that was it. It wasn't responding to IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) so it wasn't marked as friendly, but it had not yet done anything to show itself as hostile, so it was a bogey (unknown) rather than a bandit (known hostile). This happens every day in Real Life (tm). Your best bet for identification is to get more sensors to look at the target, perhaps by intercepting it with a fighter.
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A Lesson in RADAR please - 
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