Electrical Interconnect Technologies for MDA Phased Array Radars

The United States Government has an urgent need to update the Missile Defense Agency''s Ballistic Missile Defense program. A key element of this program is the telemetry link providing the critical data exchange between the Ground Based Telemetry System and the airborne interceptor vehicle. This mission requires a broadband telemetry link supporting a high data rate on both the uplink and downlink. Current GBTS terminal architectures are based on systems which combine dish antennas with mechanical gimbals. This architecture supports only single point interceptor operation with a limited response time. Both the single point interceptor operation and the limited response time present serious deficiencies which must be addressed with updated systems. A phased array antenna is the only solution which will provide the data rates and beam agility required for future GBTS terminals. However, in order to field this type of solution, the manufacturing cost of phased array antennas must be reduced by a significant factor. The proposed FIRST RF approach represents a dramatic departure from conventional phased array architectures resulting in a significant cost reduction. FIRST RF demonstrated the cost advantages of this innovative approach during Phase I with the fabrication and testing of a large K-Band passive array.