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 "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."
– Jonathan Swift

Radar is a technology in Civilization V.

Game Info[]

The invention of the Radar, a device capable of tracking objects without visual means many kilometers away, allows further development of many branches of military technology.

The branch that benefits most, for now, is aircraft. We get the next generation of airplanes: the Bomber (and the Fighter in the expansions). We also get the new Paratrooper, a type of infantry capable of airdropping into enemy territory. Finally, in Brave New World we get the Airport, an advanced building that promotes air travel and increases Tourism Tourism.

Civilopedia entry[]

Radar is an object detection system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify faraway objects like ships or airplanes. Coined in 1941, the term "RADAR" is an acronym for "Radio Detection And Ranging."

In 1904 Christian Hulsmeyer was able to detect the presence of a ship in dense fog. Later that year he made improvements which allowed the set to determine the object's distance.

In August of 1917 inventor Nikola Tesla designed the first primitive radar units, allowing the user to "determine the relative position or course of a moving object, such as a vessel at sea, the distance traversed by the same, or its speed."

As the Second World War approached, all of the industrialized world powers were working feverishly on radar. The British were the furthest along at the outbreak of the war, with a system capable of spotting incoming aircraft while still a great distance from vulnerable British cities. (Their research was spurred on by the rumor that the Germans were working on a death ray.) Their system was highly secret, and during the war the British claimed that their human airplane spotters were responsible for their success at intercepting German attacks.

By war's end all advanced countries had made major strides in radar technology, and by mid-century the technology was spreading across the world for civilian uses, primarily in air traffic control. With the possible exception of certain advanced stealth aircraft, it is now almost impossible for an airplane to enter the airspace of any industrialized nation without being spotted by some radar somewhere.

See also[]

Civilization V Technologies [edit]
Ancient Agriculture Animal Husbandry Archery Bronze Working Calendar Masonry Mining Pottery Sailing The Wheel Trapping Writing
Classical Construction Currency Drama and Poetry Engineering Horseback Riding Iron Working Mathematics Optics Philosophy
Medieval Chivalry Civil Service Compass Education Guilds Machinery Metal Casting Physics Steel Theology
Renaissance Acoustics Architecture Astronomy Banking Chemistry Economics Gunpowder Metallurgy Navigation Printing Press
Industrial Archaeology Biology Dynamite Electricity Fertilizer Industrialization Military Science Rifling Scientific Theory Steam Power Telegraph1
Modern Ballistics Combustion Electronics Flight Mass Media1 Plastics Radio Railroad Refrigeration Replaceable Parts
Atomic2 Atomic Theory Combined Arms Computers Ecology Nuclear Fission Penicillin Radar Rocketry
Information2 Advanced Ballistics Future Tech Globalization Lasers Mobile Tactics Nanotechnology Nuclear Fusion Particle Physics Robotics Satellites Stealth Telecommunications The Internet
Сut Calculus3 Patronage3 Publishing3
1 Vanilla only 2 Atomic and Information eras are Future Era in Vanilla 3 Сut from the game
Added in the Gods & Kings expansion pack.
Added in the Brave New World expansion pack.