As many regional and littoral navies look to improve their capabilities by acquiring fast strike craft, corvettes, offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and light frigates, so the world's major shipborne radar manufacturers find them-selves locked in increasingly fierce competition to provide the prime sensors for this new breed of small surface combatants. Whereas larger frigates and destroyers may typically have both long-range air search and medium-range surveillance and target indication radars, space and weight dictates that smaller surface combatants can only accommodate a single radar that must perform multiple functions. These include general surveillance to support tactical picture com-pilation, missile detection to pick out low-elevation sea-skimming threats, and target designation to cue weapon systems and dedicated fire-control sensors.
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