WIDE BAND ELECTRONICS

A REQUIREMENT EXISTS FOR PROTECTING ICBM WEAPON SYSTEM VEHICLES FROM EMERGING RADAR DIRECTED THREATS DURING THE POST BOOST GLIDE, RE-ENTRY VEHICLE DEPLOYMENT, AND FINAL BALLISTIC FLIGHT STAGES. THE ELECTRONICS REQUIRED FOR PERFORMING SUCH A TASK FACE MANY CONFLICTING REQUIREMENTS INCLUDING WIDEBAND OPERATION, SEVERE OPERATING ENVIRONMENTS, MINIMUM SIZE, WEIGHT, AND POWER CONSUMPTION, AND HIGHLY RELIABLE OPERATION. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A HIGHLY SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO DEVELOPING THE COMPONENTS AND SUBSYSTEMS NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT EFFECTIVE ELECTRONIC COUNTER MEASURE SYSTEMS INCORPORATING DIGITAL RF MEMORIES. THE APPROACH RECOGNIZES THAT SYSTEM CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT MUST NOT BE DIVORCED FROM HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT IF THE REALIZABLE, MOST OPTIMUM, AND AFFORDABLE SYSTEM IS TO BE DERIVED. A MULTI-ELEMENT 2 PHASE PROGRAM IS DESCRIBED. DURING THE FIRST PHASE, BASELINE ECM SYSTEMS ARE ESTABLISHED AND ANALYZED TO DETERMINE OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS. FROM THESE PARAMETERS ARE DERIVED THE REQUIREMENTS FOR FOUR CATEGORIES OF HARDWARE NECESSARY TO DEVELOP THE SYSTEMS. THE FIRST PHASE CONCLUDES BY PRIORITIZING AND DEFINING VARIOUS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS APPROPRIATE TO A PHASE II EFFORT TO EITHER CONSTRUCT AND TEST OR ELSE DEMONSTRATE PROOF OF PRINCIPLE OF VARIOUS ITEMS WITHIN THE CATEGORIES.