Type 382 radar is a Chinese naval 3-D air search radar designed to replace earlier Chinese Type 381. Contrary to many frequent but erroneous claim, Type 382 radar is not a simple Chinese copy of Russian MR-710 Fregat radar, though Type 382 does borrow heavily from MR-710 radar. Type 382 radar program had already begun in the early 1990s, before the start of the negotiation of importing Russian Sovremennyy-class destroyer in 1994. Type 382 is designed to be a successor of earlier Type 381, but development had run into technological bottleneck for the next generationpassive phased array radar due to the technical and industrial limitations in the early and mid-1990s China had at the time. The import of Russian MR-710 radar had provided a significant boost in the development of Type 382 radar in that designers of Type 382 can borrow ideas of MR-710, and as a result, Type 382 has become a cross between Type 381 and MR-710. L Chinese designers abandoned the development of passive phased array radar and decided to adopt the planar array of MR-710 with the same back-to-back configuration of MR-710, because Chinese industry at the time could not provide a new generation passive phased array with the reliability and performance level required by Chinese navy. The more matured planar array of MR-710 not only provided better reliability, but also proved to be more capable than the domestic Chinese passive phased array designed in the mid-1990s. However, Chinese passive phased array Type 381 does have its advantage over its Russian counterpart in that the equipment below deck is far more compact and reliable. Type 382 design was hence altered to combine the best of two systems by integrating the planar array of MR-710 above the deck and the electronic cabinets and operator consoles of Type 381 below deck together. As a result, the original more than 20 cabinets of MR-710 is drastically reduced on the Type 382. However, the most significant difference between MR-710 and Type 382 is that the former is only a single band radar operates at E-band, while the latter is a dual band radar operates at two frequency bands: S and C bands. Hence Type 382 also has a name: Sea EagleS/C, named after the frequency bands it operates at. Maximum power of Type 382 is increased to 100 kW from the 90 kW of the original MR-710., while the maximum range against a fighter sized target is increased to 250 km from the original 230 km of MR-710. In addition to stronger power and higher precision, the rotation rate of Type 382 is increased from the original 12/min to nearly 30/min and scan rate is also nearly doubled.
