Ballistic Radomes for SATCOM Antennas

Radomes mounted on tactical combat vehicles, such as the HMMWV, Stryker, and On-The-Move Future Combat Systems (FCS) platforms, must be designed to withstand ballistic impacts in the field. Current radome designs are not capable of providing ballistic protection to antenna systems, which can lead to loss of communication for the vehicle when under fire. The proposed program will develop and demonstrate a capability to design and manufacture antenna radomes that demonstrate both RF performance and ballistic protection capability for SATCOM applications. The proposed radome designs will incorporate materials with high levels of energy absorption under ballistic impact in constructions that minimize distortion of the antenna pattern at X, Ku and Ka bands while being as light and low-cost as possible and providing sufficient ballistic protection. Simulation tools will be used to model the RF performance for a given radome construction and state-of-the-art optimization tools will be used to enhance performance. Three manufacturing prototypes will be produced for various applications of interest and tested for RF and ballistic performance.