ADVANCED ANTENNA WINDOW PERFORMANCE AND REQUIREMENT DEFINITION

ANTENNA WINDOWS CRITICALLY AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE OF ADVANCED REENTRY SYSTEMS. IN MANY CASES COMPROMISES IN VEHICLE EFFECTIVENESS MUST BE MADE BECAUSE OF WINDOW MATERIAL LIMITATIONS. TO AID IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF WINDOW, AND THEREFORE OVERALL PERFORMANCE, AN ANALYSIS STUDY IS PROPOSED TO (1) EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF CANDIDATE AIR FORCE WINDOW MATERIALS IN A SYSTEM THAT IS TO BE DEPLOYED IN THE NEAR FUTURE, AND (2) IDENTIFY MATERIAL AND/OR DESIGN AREAS THAT WOULD ENHANCE WINDOW, AND THEREFORE VEHICLE EFFECTIVENESS. THE PROPOSED PLAN IS TO PERFORM THERMAL AND ABLATION ANALYSES ON THREE ANTENNA WINDOW MATERIALS THAT WERE RECENTLY FLIGHT TESTED. THESE ANALYSIS METHODS WILL THEN BE USED TO EVALUATE WINDOW RESPONSE IN THE OVERALLSYSTEM PERFORMANCE ENVELOPE. ONE THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED TO DETERMINE THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF A SINGLE ANTENNA WINDOW AND SURROUNDING VEHICLE SHELL IN A SPECIFIED NUCLEAR ATTACK ENVIRONMENT.