WIDEBAND MONOLITHIC GAAS COMPONENTS FOR RE-ENTRY VEHICLE APPLICATIONS

MICROWAVE MONOLITHICS INCORPORATED (MMINC>), WITH TEXTRON DEFENSE SYSTEMS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CENTER (TEXTRON) AS SUBCONTRACTOR, PROPOSES A SIX MONTH PHASE I PROGRAM TO IDENTIFY AND BEGIN DEVELOPMENT OF THOSE KEY WIDEBAND GAAS MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (MMIC) COMPONENTS WHICH WOULD HAVE MAXIMUM IMPACT ON RE-ENTRY VEHICLE (RV) PENETRATION AID PERFORMANCE, SIZE, WEIGHT, AND EFFICIENCY. MONOLITHIC POWER AMPLIFIERS IN THE TWO WATT RANGE COVERING 2 TO 12 GHZ, AND POSSIBLE BEYOND, COULD LEAD TO SYSTEMS COVERING MULTIPLE THREAT RADARS, THEREBY GREATLY INCREASING PROBABILITY OF PENETRATION. THEREFORE THIS AMPLIFIER, BASED ON MMINC.'S HIGH PERFORMANCE FULLY ION IMPLANTED GAAS POWER FET TECHNOLOGY, WILL BE A PRIMARY GOAL OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM. OTHER WIDEBAND COMPONENTS, SUCH AS PHASE SHIFTERS, NOISE SOURCES, AND FREQUENCY DISCRIMINATORS WILL BE EVALUATED FOR SYSTEMS IMPACT AND MAY ALSO BE SELECTED FOR INITIAL DEVELOPMENT. FOLLOWING PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF THE SYSTEMS IMPACT IN PROGRAM PHASE I, THE SELECTED MMIC COMPONENTS WILL BE FABRICATED, CHARACTERIZED, AND OPTIMIZED IN PROGRAM PHASE II. FULL SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT WOULD THEN OCCUR IN PROGRAM PHASE III, POSSIBLY WITH TEXTRON AS THE PRIME CONTRACTOR.