Detect vs. Identify

Great comment made on detection vs. identification. Interestingly enough, in
real life, fighters with advanced missile systems capable of engaging
60+
miles out rarely are allowed to engage such targets (state of conflict has
some impact) and we've seen spectacular evidence of missed calls
(oops...Airliner!...) in target ID.

Probably even in the GZGverse, unless the system is uninhabited, there will be
contacts of civilian and other military nature floating through a system.
Merchants tend to make unexpected appearances. So chances are even if you
*can* detect a target, you'll still need to get close enough to make a good
identification and I can see lots of ships masking their profiles as innocuous
merchant shipping (even worse, Q ships), if not attaching themselves to rocks
that enter ballistically and provide a sensor dead zone of cover.

Also, someone commented about detecting the shuttle manouvre drive out to the
asteroid belt. I'd assume better drive technologies in 2183, and I'd question
if the example in question stated how long it would take to detect a random
unknown blip at that distance (that is to say, I'm not saying the sensors
aren't accurate enough, merely that they have to aim at the right place and
there are a lot of potential right places).

Ultimately, it boils down to what kind of PSB keeps you happiest. Hide N Seek
or Knows All. We can probably justify either (heck, for all we know the ships
funnel hull heat off into N space) with some work. So, to each his own!