Radars are important navigational tools to help ships navigate and move around safely while avoiding collisions with other ships or their surroundings, especially since sailors cannot rely solely on natural daylight for navigation. This is why radomes are installed on a variety of ships, ranging from small yachts to oil tankers. Radomes are protective structures designed to protect radar antennas, which constantly rotate to acquire signals from sources such as satellites for navigational purposes. The ocean is a tough environment, where strong winds and ocean waves can cause damage to radar antennas. Radomes help protect valuable equipment from environmental factors such as humidity levels, temperature fluctuations, and erosion from rain. Radomes are also used by cruise ships and oil tankers to house equipment that helps them gain access to other forms of data, such as television channels, the Internet, and voice communication.
This radome was used on the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) Sea Wolf-class missile gunboats (MGBs), which are small but lethal warships designed to be mobile fighting vessels. Initially, each MGB had only one radome located on its mast. However, in the 1990s, the RSN decided to upgrade the operational and warfare capabilities of the MGBs with enhancements such as improved electronic warfare features and the Harpoon anti-ship missile, which relies on onboard navigational systems to destroy targets beyond the line of sight. The MGBs’ original navigational radars were replaced by radars with automatic radar plotting aid capabilities that enabled them to track and monitor the movement of radar contacts automatically. These upgrades resulted in the need for additional smaller radomes compatible with the MGBs’ improved capabilities, and these were installed on lower parts of each ship’s mast.