One of the toughest design challenges of next-generation hypersonic munitions is developing navigation, guidance, sensors, and communications subsystems that are rugged enough to operate through the extreme heat, shock, and vibration of hypersonic flight. Fortunately design trends are heading in the right direction with a U.S. military research program called High Enthalpy Aperture Technology (HEAT). Hypersonics experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., have chosen three U.S. technology companies to develop rugged RF radomes and infrared windows able to withstand the environmental extremes that future hypersonic missiles and aircraft must endure.
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