Radar warning receiver

RWR systems can be installed in all kind of airborne, sea-based, and ground-based assets such as aircraft, ships, automobiles, military bases.

The typical airborne RWR system consists of multiple wideband antennas placed around the aircraft which receive the radar signals.

In addition, the RWR helps identify and classify threats—it's hard to tell[citation needed] which blips on a radar console-screen are dangerous, but since different fighter aircraft typically have different types of radar sets, once they turn them on and point them near the aircraft in question it may be able to tell, by the direction and strength of the signal, which of the blips is which type of fighter.

Especially at high altitude (more than 30,000 feet AGL), very few[citation needed] threats exist that don't emit radiation.

SEAD and ELINT aircraft often have sensitive and sophisticated RWR equipment like the U.S. HTS (HARM targeting system) pod which is able to find and classify threats which are much further away than those detected by a typical RWR, and may be able to overlay threat circles on a map in the aircraft's multi-function display (MFD), providing much better[1] information for avoiding or engaging threats, and may even store information to be analyzed later or transmitted to the ground to help the commanders plan future missions.