Radar technology is an effective means of locating distant targets. But radar systems can also be fooled. That is one of the purposes of a digital RF memory (DRFM): to digitize signals that a receiver has captured from an adversary’s radar transmitter so that those signals can be modified and transmitted back the way they came to change the apparent characteristics of the target represented by those signals.
Changes in phase, amplitude, and delay can change the speed, size, and location of a target as an adversary’s radar perceives it. By duplicating return signals, even the number of apparent targets can be increased. The DRFM is a very specialized component but, in the world of electronic countermeasures (ECM), there are few components more important.