ORIGINAL: viberpol
ORIGINAL: LoBaron
Radar- (and practically all other electronic gear-) developement was heavily dependent on qualified researchers, engineers and techicians with an
university degree. The Allies had those in abundance, Germany a bit less but also enough, but Japan, as an agricultural nation with only small
limited areas of modern industrialisation did not.
Thats why the Japanese contrary to the Allies had to limit themselves to a very narrow but low risk lane of approach when adressing problems.
I doubt the Japanese even came close to understand the potential of radar until the war was already over.
I find this a bias that stem from the fact that it's very difficult to find reliable data on wartime Japanese radar technology as most of the equipment and the documentation was destroyed by the Japanese themselves.
Japan knew it's importance and actively tried to catch up and build many different sets of more or less efficient radar sets in hundreds.
The Marines captured the airfield on Guadalcanal, they also found an intact air warning radar. This set was said to be rather crude, but this was just a simple air warning set for out laying outposts. The Japanese searched the wrecks of Prince of Wales and Repulse to recover the radar equipment. It's what you call no interest?
Ironically, the Japanese had good technical minds, and had even developed an effective cavity magnetron in 1939, well before the British. They had people with good ideas, but radar work remained organizationally muddled and crippled by inadequate resources. The biggest problem as I see it was not the lack of ideas or technology, but the shortage of good-quality electronic components.
Yes, the Japanese had excellent technical minds (Japanese aircraft design was very good). However, there was a very limited pool of these technical minds to spread around for many important needs. Japan was catching up with the west and far behind the West in educational instutitions that produced college educated personell-especially those trained in the techncial fields. The numbers were very small. Combine that with a very limited industrial base that was strained to the limit even before the Allies started bombing the homeland and it is amazing that Japan developed any sort of radar at all. Once again, as you say there are not many records but it is not hard to imagine the difficulties a society would have with the limited resources available. Not only lack of scientist and engineers to devote to radar developement but a lack of skilled labor to manufacturer and skill technical workers who were capable of running tests. Combine this with, poor quality control, lack of spare parts and raw material, I just can't imagine that the radar produced by Japan would have amounted to much. I have to admit that I am speculating here but it is not a far stretch.
The radar net you cite in the South Pacific sound impressive but having seen the difficulties keeping radar working on even modern merchant ships, I can only imagine how many days any Japanese radar at any given base was not functioning for any number of reasons. Even Allied radar of the day was very sensitive and prone to breaking down quite easily.
then though they were not truly omni-directional hence the in-between the square and cube). Fighters and bombers shouldn't have that different of pickup ranges. That is a realistic question...
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