Survivable Ballistic Antenna Radome

In this effort, a team comprising of JEM Engineering and the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials proposes to develop multifunctional radomes for Future Combat Systems vehicle platforms that are capable of surviving ballistic impacts from small arms and similar threats. A concurrent design approach is proposed where composite materials that are capable of high levels of energy absorption will be evaluated as candidate materials in a radome design for both ballistic and RF performance. The objectives of the effort are to develop and optimize the design and manufacturing processes for ballistic radomes to reduce cost, design time, and increase manufacturability and quality, and the development and manufacture of three manufacturing prototypes: a cylindrical vehicle-mounted radome for communication, navigation, identification antenna(s) with a wide frequency range (225-2500 MHz); a planar or near-planar radome for an antenna with an approximately 50% bandwidth, for an application such as SATCOM or GPS; and a lightweight ballistic radome for an antenna for an airborne application, such as on a helicopter.