Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine June 2017 - 48

Early History of Polish Radars

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

the first oxide-coated cathode applied in magnetron (1937) [8] and
the first metal magnetron with inner resonant circuits and an oxide
cathode (1939) [9].
On September 1, 1939 Professor Janusz Groszkowski obtained an order from Polish Army Staff to evacuate (together with
PIT employees) to Lviv, Ukraine, where he carried out research
work during the occupation at the Polytechnic Institute until 1941
[1]. In 1941 he came back to Warsaw and started giving lectures
at the State School of Engineering at WUT, and began to be involved in other, more secretive matters. In the time period of
1941-1945 Janusz Groszkowski took active part in the resistance
movement as a soldier in the Home Army, in particular executing
the mission charged with the decoding of the control system of
the German V1 and V2 missiles, thus enabling effective defense
against them [1].
Three years after the Second World War the PIT institute was
again recalled into service, and Groszkowski's main task was
now the research and development of radar technology. In the
same year, the professor established a new Radar department at
the Warsaw University of Technology in order to cooperate with
engineers and researchers from PIT. Those early works resulted
in an experimental model of radar installed on the roof of the PIT
building. The experimental radar was built mostly from parts of a
German Freya radar found on Polish territory shortly after WWII.
The experimental radar, operating at ca. 200 MHz, had a Yagi
antenna and a triode transmitter. With its transmitter peak power
of some 15 kW, the first radar device had no practical application,
but to see radar echoes was a great event for the young engineers
taking their first steps in an entirely new field of technology.
Within a year, they were ready to undertake the development of
a warning radar according to technical requirements approved by
the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces in 1950. A model of
the new radar was built in 1951. In the same year, the first important act occurred in the process of establishing a Polish radar industry: the resolution of the Polish government of 21 November,
1951 concerning radar production for the armed forces, which
obligated the respective minister to urgently organize a "special
laboratory for radar related tasks" at one of the radio engineering
factories based in Warsaw. The laboratory was to originate from

the special-purpose radio laboratory organised earlier at PIT, and
be supported by scientists from Warsaw and Gdansk Universities of Technology. Professor Paweł Szulkin was designated the
head of this Laboratory. The government resolution of November
1951 ordered the undertaking of a wide range of development
activities in key radar-oriented industries, such as production of
electro-ceramics, transmitter tubes, precise electrical machines,
and high frequency cables among other things. The first task
for the "special laboratory", explicitly stated in the government
resolution, was to build a prototype of a warning radar according
to Ministry of Defence (MoD) requirements by November 1952
(Figure 4).
As ordered, the prototype was built in 1952 and was given the
name NYSA-A (Nysa is the name of a Polish western border river).
In April 1953, the acceptance tests of the radar were completed
under the supervision of a government commission, and it is this
year when, according to the Polish radar society, Polish radar technology was born.
This was an important milestone in the start of radar technology development in Poland. Undoubtedly this development
would not have been possible without the great work of Professor Janusz Groszkowski, whose pioneering work in radioengineering and great management of researchers and engineers
at both WUT and PIT built an important foundation for starting the development of radar technology in Poland. Professor
Janusz Groszkowski passed away on September 3, 1984. His
whole life's research was connected with radio-engineering and
many of his inventions have been used in radiolocation. Professor Janusz Groszkowski was the author of 16 patents and 361
publications, amongst which were many books published in Poland and abroad [1].

Professor Janusz Groszkowski at work in his office.

The first radar antenna test range in Poland (1951).

NYSA-A-THE FIRST POLISH RADAR
Built in 1952, the NYSA-A radar was not exactly a masterpiece of
engineering. The simple dish antenna three meters in diameter produced a pencil beam some 11° wide. It has since been discovered
that the antenna was not very original, a fact which was left unsaid
for several decades until recently, when it was found to be very

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

JUNE 2017

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