Radar technology uses an electromagnetic system to detect the location and distance of objects and uses radio waves for determining the spread, angle, and object speed that is within the radius. As per a Bloomberg report, the global value of the radar market is expected to reach $44.35 billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.7% in 2028.

The Bloomberg report states that the market size for Security and Surveillance radar is $12,783.66 Million by 2028.  The market worth for Airborne radars is $6.0 billion by 2025.

The initial purpose of radar was in the defense and military sector. However, the development of the technology with advancement led to the use of RADAR technology in various other sectors such as air traffic control, radar astronomy, weather formation, and meteorological monitoring systems. Well, along with LiDAR technology, RADAR is also used in robotaxis or even autonomous vehicle systems.

The wide use of RADAR technologies in lane changing assistance, cruise control aids, or allowing the vehicle to adjust the vehicle speed for safe distance maintenance from other vehicles. It helps in delivering collision warnings, and driver assistance for possible threats.

In industrial applications, Radar is mostly used in speed monitoring, object recognition & tracking, monitoring of area & distances, and also avoiding collision with static & moving objects. It also provides support in high robustness to measure distance, velocities, and angles compared to optical or ultrasound systems.

In the automotive radar market, Europe is going to dominate the market. The German automakers are heavily investing in enhanced safety features.

The major players in the radar systems are SAAB AB (Sweden), Raytheon Technologies (US), Mitsubishi Electric (Japan), Thales Group (France), and Northrop Grumman Corp. (US).

The key players in the security and surveillance radar market are Raytheon Technologies Corporation (US), Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Hensoldt (Germany), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (Israel), and Leonardo S.p.A(Italy).

The major players in advanced airborne radar technologies are Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Leonardo SpA (Italy), and BAE Systems (US).

The latest in the market is the 4D electronic scanned radar array with features such as multi-functional surveillance and target acquisition, recognizing tactical pictures and weapon assignment are offered and weapon assignment.

The radar technology uses solid-state, gallium nitride in electronic scanned array sensor technology with multiple digitally formed beams. One of the best advantages of the radar system is the ability to detect, track and classify several types of air targets such as low flying planes, missiles, and helicopters.

The other major key players in the radar market are Hensoldt AG (Germany), Telephonics Corp. (US), and Src, Inc. (US).

The military and defense radar system market is expected to reach $41 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 4.8% 2026. The growth of the military & defense market is driven by the increased adoption of radar systems in Defense & commercial aircraft, marine vessels, weather stations, airport surveillance, unmanned vehicles, satellites, etc.

The global & Asia pacific radar market size is expected to reach $49.43 billion by 2027.

In my opinion, there is ample opportunity for the growth in radar but its use has its limits. In comparison to LiDAR, its major importance lies in the military & defense industry sectors. It is used in AVs also, but LiDAR is preferred more than RADAR. Well, even the visual camera comes first before choosing LiDAR.