TECHNOLOGY FOR LOW COST TRAVELING WAVE TUBES FOR EXPENDABLE MICROWAVE COUNTERMEASURES

EXPENDABLE MICROWAVE COUNTERMEASURES (XMCM) SYSTEMS WILL BE REQUIRED TO PROTECT SHIPS AND OTHER HIGH VALUE EQUIPMENTS AND INSTALLATIONS FROM ACTIVE MISSILES AND ANTI-RADIATION MISSILES (ARM). TRAVELING WAVE TUBES ARE USED AS THE MICROWAVE POWER AMPLIFIER AND ARE THE CRITICAL COMPONENT WHICH DETERMINES SYSTEM OUTPUT POWER, PRIME POWER AND COOLING REQUIREMENTS. SINCE THE MICROWAVE EXPENDABLES WILL BE REQUIRED IN LARGE NUMBERS THE SYSTEM, AND THE TWT IN PARTICULAR, HAVE TO BE PRODUCED AT LOW COST. THE PEAK OUTPUT POWER, BANDWIDTH AND MANY OF THE OTHER PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPENDABLE TWTS AREAPPROXIMATELY THE SAME AS THOSE FOR TUBES USED IN SELF PROTECTION ECM SYSTEMS WHICH ARE CURRENTLY PRICED FROM $10,000 TO $25,000. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL IDENTIFY THE TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO ENABLE THE DESIGN AND PRODUCTION OF EXPENDABLE TWTS AT A SMALL FRACTION OF THEIR PRESENT COST. THE TECHNOLOGY SURVEY WILL BE SUMMARIZED IN A MATRIX FORMAT WHICH WILL ALLOW READY COMPARISON OF THE PHASE 2 TWT WITH THE CURRENT BASELINE AND TO DETERMINE DEVELOPMENT RISK AND BENEFIT OF TWTS FOR FUTURE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.