ņ5 
Table 6.1    Relation between type and height of target and detection distance and RCS 
 
Caution:  Detection distance shown in the above table may greatly decrease  depending  on  the shape of  the 
target, sea state, weather and radio wave propagation conditions. 
 
 
 
Type of target 
Height from 
sea surface 
(m) 
Detection distance (NM)  RCS (m²) 
X band  S band  X band  S band 
Sea shore line  60  20  20  50,000  50,000 
Sea shore line  6  8  8  5000  5000 
Sea shore line  3  6  6  2500  2500 
SOLAS target ship (>5000GT)  10  11  11  50,000  30,000 
SOLAS target ship (>500GT)  5  8  8  1800  1000 
Small boat with IMO standard 
compatible radar reflector 
4  5.0  3.7  7.5  0.5 
Marine buoy with corner reflector  3.5  4.9  3.6  10  1 
Standard marine buoy  3.5  4.6  3.0  5  0.5 
10-meter small boat without radar 
reflector 
2  3.4  3.0  2.5  1.4 
Waterway location beacon  1  2.0  1.0  1  0.1