Abstract: A micro-doppler ladar system for identifying and analyzing a target of interest includes a transmitter and coherent receiver pair, each of which includes a fiber optic power amplifier, and a controller. Preferably, the transmitter includes a master oscillator for generating a primary laser beam, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) for generating a VCO signal having a predetermined, repetitive frequency pattern, a frequency shifting circuit for varying the frequency of the primary laser beam responsive to the VCO signal to thereby produce a frequency-varying primary laser signal, and the optical fiber amplifier, which amplifies the frequency-varying primary laser signal to thereby produce a transmit laser beam.