The concept of airborne surveillance of enemy ground forces with a Ground Moving Target Indicator [now called GMTI] radar capable of detecting moving ground vehicles and helicopters was proposed in 1968 and resulted in a DoD program to realize its potential. This article traces the program history starting with the Army's Stand Off Target Acquisition System [SOTAS] as it evolved through the Small Aerostat Surveillance System [SASS] and the Assault Breaker/Pave Mover programs into the currently fielded Joint Surveillance and Target Attack System [JointSTARS], which, in prototype form, more than proved its worth in the 1991 Gulf War. New developments and trends in GMTI radars are also discussed together with other potential platforms.
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Entzminger et al. (1999) studied this question.