tracking radar

British

noun

a radar system emitting a narrow beam which oscillates about the target, thus compensating for abrupt changes of direction

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A classic tactic to overwhelm air defences is to swamp them with targets, thereby occupying their acquisition and tracking radar systems and depleting missile stocks.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2024

The F-16s were at an altitude of 10,000 feet to the west of Greece’s Rhodes island when the Russian-made S-300’s target tracking radar locked on, the report added.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 28, 2022

Germany has promised to send more weapons: an air-defense system and a tracking radar to help locate Russian artillery.

From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2022

"Air Force tracking radar went down. Launch postponed to same time tomorrow," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter after the delay.

From Scientific American • Feb. 9, 2015

At this point, unfortunately, a fault in the tracking radar transmitter had resulted in it losing contact with the target.

From Far from Home by Taylor, J.A.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023