Cylindrical/Ogive Phased Array Transmitter for Jammers

Dedicated EW Aircraft have inherent advantages in performing Jamming functions. The Aircraft is designed to provide a large space for multiple antenna arrays, prime power for amplifiers, and thermal management capability to dissipate the large amount of heat generated by multiple power supplies and amplifiers. A new challenge is to package all the functionality of an Airborne EW system in the relatively small volume of a modern tactical Aircraft or pod. Due to limited space, the packaging is further complicated by new requirements such as additional frequencies and waveforms, higher power, and multiple functions from the phased array. FIRST RF proposes to use an array of conformal wideband antennas supported by proprietary array simulation and analysis tools to ensure the success of this program. A conformal wideband array has the potential to use the empty space between the radome and antenna face and minimize the loss through the radome. FIRST RF proposes an integrated set of conformal antennas aboard a 480 gallon fuel tank for use aboard tactical aircraft. Because of the flexibility in the design and the array tools proposed, the technology is also easily adaptable for use aboard UAV’s for EW applications.