Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: the experimental situation

The methods of detection of high-energy cosmic rays are briefly described and it is shown that results on the energy spectrum and arrival direction distribution obtained above 4×1019 eV confound theoretical expectation. There is an urgent need for better statistics as only about 12 events above 1020 eV have been detected and the limit to the energy which cosmic rays can reach is not known. The new, funded, instruments, the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Hi-Res fluorescence detector, are described and the plans for an ambitious satellite observatory (Airwatch/OWL) are outlined.