In this paper, we have developed a target recognition algorithm based on a template matching technique using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. For efficient computations, Radon transform-based azimuth estimation algorithm was used with the template matching. MSTAR data set was divided into two groups according to the depression angles, which were a train set and a test set. Template data were generated by rotating and cropping chips which were from MSTAR train set using the azimuth estimation algorithm. Then the template matching process between test data and template data was performed under various conditions. Performance variation according to contrast enhancement preprocessing which is scarce in open literature was also presented. The analysis results show that the target recognition algorithm could be useful for the automatic target recognition using SAR images.