Permanent Exhibits

The National Electronics Museum has nine permanent exhibitions and one rotating temporary exhibit. The galleries display breakthroughs in electronic history in the areas of communications, radar, countermeasures, electro-optical, underwater and satellites.

  • Learn how the British built a radar to detect enemy aircraft in the late 1930's
  • See the type of radar that detected the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941
  • See the American radar-controlled anti-aircraft gun that fired shells packed with electronics to shoot down the buzz bombs launched against London in World War II
  • Read descriptions of Allied and German radars used in World War II
Cold War Radar Gallery
  • See a U.S. Navy shipborne fire-control radar
  • Learn how radar led to the household microwave oven
  • Learn how Doppler radar would be used to direct American missiles toward Soviet bombers
  • See how the Doppler effect was adapted to measure the speed of your car
  • See Air Force and Navy airborne fire-control radars
  • Learn how side-looking radars developed in the 1950's could map the ground in all kinds of weather
Modern Radar Gallery
  • A TPS-43 ground based tactical surveillance radar in an outside exhibit area.
  • An AWACS antenna including a mock-up of the radome
  • Radar tracks of incoming flights at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport
  • A hands on demonstration of phased array beam steering
Countermeasures Gallery
  • See World War II Army Air Force and U.S. Navy jamming and receiving gear
  • Hear an enemy SA-2 (SAM) missile lock on to its target
  • Learn how chaff and decoys are used to fool enemy radar
  • Examine modern multi-configurable counter measure pods
Underseas Gallery
  • Fundamentals of underwater sound transmission
  • Air-dropped sonobuoys
  • Interactive demonstration of passive and active underwater sounds
  • Display of antisubmarine warfare systems and future Bow Conformal SONAR arrays
  • "Shadowgraph" towed vehicle for imaging mines using acoustics
Electro-optical Gallery
  • See the famous Norden bombsite of the WWII era
  • Explore the inner workings of the Pave Spike system
  • See yourself in infrared!
Satellites: Transforming Our Lives Gallery
  • See a 1:1 scale model of the Boeing 702SP Satellite
  • Explore the Satellite Hall of Fame on one of several touch screens in the gallery