HIGH SECURITY V-BAND WIRELESS COMMAND/RESPONSE DATA LINK FOR MISSILES AND SUBMUNITIONS

A CONCEPT FOR A WIRELESS V-BAND COMMAND/RESPONSE DATA LINK IS DESCRIBED WHICH WOULD HAVE MAJOR IMPACT ON COMMUNICATIONS IN AIRCRAFT AND SUPPORT ELECTRONICS SUBSYSTEMS (INCLUDING MISSILES AND SUBMUNITIONS). THE WIRELESS LINK CAN BE USED TO REPLACE HARD-WIRE CABLES OR DATA BUS (TO SAVE WEIGHT AND WEAPONS RELIABILITY) AND/OR AS A REDUNDANT BACKUP TO WEAPON AIRCRAFT SURVIVABILITY IN EVENT OF BATTLE DAMAGE. FURTHERMORE, THE WIRELESS LINK CAN EXTEND THE TOTAL AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM TO MAINTAIN LIMITED RANGE DATA FLOW BETWEEN AIRCRAFT AND MISSILE AFTER LAUNCH OR BETWEEN A BUS MISSILE AND THE SUBMUNITIONS WHICH IT RELEASES. THE EMPHASIS IN THIS PROPOSAL IS ON THE USE OF THE WIRELESS LINK FOR EXTERNAL LINKS BETWEEN AIRCRAFT AND MISSILE AFTER LAUNCH OR BETWEEN BUS MISSILE AND SUBMUNITIONS AFTER THE SUBMUNITIONS ARE LAUNCHED BUT FLYING IN PROXIMITY TO THE BUS MISSILE. A MIL-STD 1553B CAPABILITY FOR SUCH A BUS IS FEASIBLE. THE USE OF THE V-BAND (55-65GHZ) REDUCES PROBABILITY OF ENEMY DETECTION AND JAMMING OF THE COMMUNICATIONS LINKS. THE COMMAND/RESPONSE SYSTEM WOULD BE FORMATTED TO BE COMPLETELY COMPATIBLE WITH EXISTING 1553B DATA BUS SYSTEMS SO THAT THE EXTENDED REMOTE LINKS WOULD BE FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH THE AIRCRAFT DATA COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM.