radar picket

noun

, Military.

1. a ship, vehicle, or aircraft stationed at a distance from a protected force to increase radar detection range.

Word History and Origins

Origin of radar picket¹

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

In 1960, the nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton departed New London, Conn., on the first submerged circumnavigation by a vessel.

From Washington Times

The radar picket line is at least two years from completion, and other promised equipment has yet to be delivered.

From Time Magazine Archive

Alive with radar screens, computers and scrambled-speech telephones, the Blue Fire command post will eventually anchor a "radar picket line" along the porous 2,000-mile. border with Mexico, the passageway for one-third of the drugs entering the U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

The big ships, guarded by antisubmarine frigates and nuclear-powered hunter submarines, were as close as 90 miles to shore, while destroyers interposed themselves between the islands and the mainland to set up a radar "picket" about 100 miles west of the Falklands.

From Time Magazine Archive

But critics maintain that when the Soviets develop new defensive weapons, including look-down radar and radar picket planes, like the AWACS, the B-l will become obsolete.

From Time Magazine Archive