SAR sensor employment planning for tactical aircraft

In this paper, an attempt is made to define the features of SAR employment planning problem for tactical aircraft in military operations. General concepts for use of airborne SAR to find and locate targets are described and formulated into a parameter optimization problem. The utility and constrains of SAR imaging followed by weapon delivery are described, which rely on target characteristics, threat distribution, terrain and attack conditions. Then some approaches to solving the technique problem are described. Although the interests expressed in this paper are motivated by capabilities that might be afforded by manned aircrafts, the concepts are relevant for unmanned air vehicles conducting battle reconnaissance tasks equipped with SAR sensors.