An instrument for remote observation of cloud physical properties was designed and fabricated. As part of a larger payload, it was tested in a series of aircraft flights on the NASA CV‐990 in the summer of 1976 and the NASA WB‐57F in the summer of 1979. The instrument is a scanning radiometer with six channels in the near infrared and one channel in the thermal infrared. The optical techniques employed, and the mechanical and electrical design implementation of the instrument, are described. Early results of the data gathered using this instrument are presented to indicate the instrument performance.