Comments by "N Velsen" (@nvelsen1975) on "Why are maritime drones so hard to beat?" video.

4:01 I feel the need to add 'why' sea clutter can't be fixed Because the only fix on maritime radars for clutter is to tell the radar 'ignore any object below X cm tall above the sea level'. Which means that against maritime drones that are really low in the water, you have to choose between: A - Seeing the drone and ALL the waves, good luck picking which of the 300 objects is the right target B - Not the waves or the drone, good luck finding the drone Source: I work volunteer maritime rescue for Dutch KNRM and have to operate such radars (civilian ones) sometimes in bad weather. Disclaimer: The navies of today may be sitting on more advanced solutions by now, I wouldn't know, I was army 2006-2010 then reservist 2010-2017, never navy
2
@LarryB-inFL Is it though? These drones are maybe 70-110 cm above the water, easily below the crests of most waves. This is why the radar is useful: You can either see EVERYTHING (good luck picking your target) or increase your clutter filter and have an empty screen but not see the drone. A maritime rescue chapter around here smashed their boat across a small quay in heavy weather a couple years ago because they set their clutter filter too high, so the radar was like 'That's a wave 90 cm high, ignore. That's a quay 75 cm tall, ignore. Nope, no objects directly ahead of you, keep gunning it full speed'. Dudes damn near wrecked their boat flying across the concrete . We're still teasing them about it even today. 😆 Your first lesson in radar operation will go 'Once it starts, ensure sea clutter filter is zero, then increase as the conditions require'.
1
@dpelpal But to my knowledge our radars filter by object height same as Russian / civilian ones do, so we'd be stuck with the same conundrum of 'either see 300 blips and pick the drone, or see nothing because of the filter'. And I KNOW from Joint Caribbean Lion that our tertiary weaponry (meaning the stuff that engages small drones shortrange) is just a couple guys with LMGs, same as Russia has.
1
@eaglesclaws8 Yes, but 'stuff' is defined as 'object above certain height'. So your radar can't tell apart waves and marine drones in rough weather as wave crests are higher than the drone. It only works if the clutter is shorter in a 1D height sense than the object you want to see. Which is why nearly all buoys are quite tall (and often lit with lamps): Small ones become a navigation hazard at night because your radar filters them out in rough weather. I've seen two buoys merge into one on my radar, than come apart and jump position roughly 25 meters only to snap back into place later. Couple years ago a boat of the Dutch KNRM rescue group smashed over a low concrete breakwater at night because their radar filtered the concrete object out: It was lower than the waves in the rough weather and unlit. I mean, we're never letting them live that one down, but in reality there was nothing they could've done to spot it earlier.
1