The role of the Royal Navy has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War. Ships and personnel are now expected to fulfil a wider range of possible missions in theatres all over the world. Consequently ship's radar systems are now expected to give a high level of performance in regions that include the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, despite being originally designed to operate predominately in the North Atlantic. The problem is that the local scenario and environmental conditions can dramatically affect radar system performance in two important ways. Firstly the environment can change the way that energy propagates outwards from the radar leading to large variations in target and clutter strength between different locations. Secondly these variations are often hidden by automatic threshold changes that reduce sensitivity to prevent the radar picture from becoming cluttered. This can give the false impression that the radar is operating optimally and could prevent ship's personnel from adapting their tactics to fit to the local situation. This paper outlines an updated model that is compared to real data in ducting conditions. The model is used to examine radar performance in littoral scenarios and to estimate sea state and duct strength from real radar data. The ultimate aim is to combine information collected by the ship's surveillance radar with modelling to allow ship's personnel to monitor the effect of the local environment on radar performance. New or upgraded radar systems are likely to be more flexible in their operation due to increasing levels of software control and better integration of subsystems. Such systems could use an improved picture of the local conditions to adapt their modes of operation to maintain radar performance.
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