Vehicle Antennas for Military Applications

Military vehicle antennas may be installed on tanks, trucks, armored personnel carriers and a wide range of other combat and non-combat vehicles in order to enable them to transmit and receive communications and data.

Specific military applications include:

• ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance)
• ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance
• SIGINT (signals intelligence)
• EW (electronic warfare)
• COMINT (communications intelligence)

Vehicle Antenna Frequency Bands

Military vehicle antennas may operate within several different frequency bands, including the radio frequency (RF) bands of HF (high frequency), VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra high frequency), and L, S, C, X, Ka and Ku for microwave.
Tactical vehicle antennas often allow access to MANET (mobile ad-hoc networking), which is commonly used by the military to provide dynamic communications without the need for fixed infrastructure.

Many antennas are multiband, enabling them to support a variety of communications applications over different ranges. Multiple antennas may be fitted to a vehicle to provide a mix of horizontal and vertical polarization, ensuring frequency, spatial and polarization diversity for optimal performance. A variety of form factors are available, including patch, blade and whip antennas.

Military vehicle GPS antennas are widely used to provide crucial PNT (position, navigation and timing) data. They may be integrated with anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities that allow them to continue receiving GNSS satellite signals while facing electronic warfare threats.

Mounts & Attachments

Antennas may be attached to military vehicles via a variety of methods, including standard NATO and USA mounts. Some systems utilize a detachable mechanism that allows the antenna itself to be removed from the base and swapped out or transferred to another vehicle.

Military vehicle antennas need to be designed to withstand extremely harsh battlefield conditions and environmental stressors. They may be designed to MIL-STD-810 standards against factors such as shock, vibration, humidity, and extremes of temperature.