Ballistic Radomes for Communications Antennas

The Army Digitized Force requires a robust communications infrastructure for its superior IT/C4ISR (Information Technologies/Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Sur veil lance, and Reconnaissance). Ballistic radomes protecting communications antennas will increase the survivability and maintain the lethality of combat platforms. Legacy antennas on combat platforms are vulnerable to small arms fire and munitions fragments. Antennas on platforms with active threat protection systems have the added threat from the munitions fragments generated by the system that can shoot down and pre-detonate incoming warheads. Current radomes do not protect the antenna from these threats, as they are usually thin-walled composite structures to minimize RF transmission loss.