SummaryThe paper presents performance analysis of least‐mean‐square algorithm based adaptive filter embedded with constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector for the purpose of better detection of target under non‐homogeneous clutter environment in radar application. The objective of this paper is to develop a method by redesigning the radar detector in such a way to emphasize the target response and de‐emphasize the clutter response. The hardware implementation using pipeline technique for the adaptive filter reveals its capability to support high sampling frequency, which is an ardent necessity for high performance radar. The moderate area‐delay‐product and low power consumption have made it suitable for hardware realization for such application. The extensive MATLAB simulation of proposed design shows remarkable improvement of detection performance in terms of signal‐to‐noise ratio of 17 dB considering probability of detection at 0.8 over the generic cell averaging CFAR (CA‐CFAR). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.