Wideband radome minimizes RF interference for F-35 AESA radar
NewsMay 24, 2021
FAIRFAX, Va. General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) announced that it has delivered the 500th wideband nose radome to Lockheed Martin for installation aboard U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and international military F-35 aircraft.
According to the company, these radomes physically protect the aircraft’s Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, while minimizing radio frequency (RF) interference and reducing the aircraft’s susceptibility from detection by enemy radar.
The radomes were originally co-developed by General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, with General Dynamics leading the RF design and Lockheed Martin leading the overall development effort.
The company claims that wideband radomes provide increased performance over legacy radomes by minimizing impact to RF performance over the much broader AESA frequency bands. This improvement is intended to enable F-35 pilots greater operating frequency space and provide maximum performance in target detection, tracking, and mapping.
