OVERVIEW: A Gun Director is a radar-based fire-control component used to detect, track, and compute firing solutions for surface or air targets. It forms the core of many naval and land-based gun systems, enabling automated and precise gun laying under all-weather conditions.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: 1990s-era radar-based gun directors employed coherent pulse-Doppler tracking radars with improved processing, automation, and integration into combat systems. These directors provided precise target data (bearing, range, elevation, velocity) to control naval guns, enabling accurate engagements of surface, low-flying air, and missile threats. Capable of operating in cluttered littoral environments, they supported high-speed data exchange with CIWS, SAMs, and shipboard command systems. Systems of this generation featured automatic target acquisition and multi-target tracking, often paired with electro-optical sensors for redundancy.

ROLE SUMMARY:
Category: Radar Fire-Control Director
Primary Use: Engagement of surface and aerial threats
Function: All-weather, real-time targeting and fire control
Platform: Destroyers, frigates, corvettes, larger FACs
Integration: Networked with combat management systems, CIWS, and EO/IR turrets

Radar Type: Pulse-Doppler, coherent tracking radar

See Specific information under [Sensors/EW] and [Properties] sections.

SOURCE:
Thales Nederland SMART and STIR series technical literature
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_fire-control_system