Radar Transparent Protective Cover for AN/SPY-1 Array - MSC P4772

The Department of the Navy (DON) has issued a broad agency announcement as part of the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program soliciting proposals for the development of a protective cover for the AN/SPY-1 radar array that will extend the service life of the coating material protecting the front face of the array, which is an Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV) silicone which approximately every 9 years needs to be removed and reapplied, generating hazardous waste with associated labor and disposal costs.  The protective cover needs to be mounted to the array while the ship is underway and is subject to seakeeping loads, environmental loads, and weather.  It must prevent damage to the RTV layer and will prevent seawater from infiltrating the radar elements.  Foremost, the cover must not have any significant affect on the performance of the radar, i.e. it must be transparent to radar signals in the appropriate frequency band.   The approach used by MSC is to use the minimize structural elements to create a cover that meets load, wind, and weather requirements while utilizing materials that are inherently low-radar signature at the frequencies of interest.  MSC will utilize structural finite element analyses combined with known material properties to build the minimal structure, meanwhile using electromagnetic modeling to verify that it has sufficiently low Radio Frequency (RF) loss and reflectivity. MSC will also use a unique, low-radar absorption elastomer compound for protection from impact damage. During this Phase I SBIR, MSC will propose initial designs and fabricate and test panels to ensure that the solution is Radar Transparent.