USS Fitzgerald Collision

[MaDef]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

I operated two surface search DARs the old analog an/sps64, used a grease pencil to plot target course and speed on the PPI. Squirrels came aboard one day and installed a new addition called a RAYCAS and rapid radar plots with grease pencils became a thing of the past.

Several years later we were using the digital sps73. The 73 had all sorts of cool bells and whistles you could program, but like the older 64 it performed only as good as the operator that tuned it. Computerized collision avoidance systems and like gadgetry dont do a dang bit of good if the RADAR isnt tuned properly.

Then there's that what you mentioned clutter, weather, sea state, atmospheric conditions, ducting, refraction all of which can affect the performance of even the most precisely tuned machine.

Nothing beats a pair of eyes.

Yeah, but even the MK1 eyeball is only as good as the brain it's attached to.