A system engineering perspective on quantum radar

We compute the minimum cost for an optimal quantum radar, and we compare it with the cost of actual real world classical radars as a function of range. Our calculations show that the minimum cost quantum radar at X-Band is many orders of magnitude more expensive than the corresponding classical radar, even assuming the most optimistic wideband phased array radar architecture. We also assume that the quantum radar is optimal; that is, the effective signal-to-noise ratio is 6 dB better than for a classical radar with the same transmit power and bandwidth at low photon flux per mode.