Originally posted by wolfgang59
I wonder what wavelength this weapon uses?
They are all around 2 gigahertz. 300 megahertz is one meter wavelength so 3 gigahertz would be 1/10th meter wavelength or 100 mm or about 4 inches. That takes an antenna, full sized diopole, of about 2 inches to transmit and receive. So at 2 Ghz, the wavelength would be about 150 mm and the antenna about 3 inches for a single dipole. Of course for such weapons, they would use a planar array, a hundred or more antenna's in a matrix which would make for a fairly narrow beam.
So at that rate, 100 such antennas would be on a plane surface about 1.5 meter by 1.5 meter.
The neat thing about such an antenna is there doesn't have to be moving parts unless they want 360 degree coverage, the individual antennas can be phased with electronics to aim the beam about the centerline, maybe 45 degrees on either side of center, up, down, sideways, and VERY fast.
Phased array radar is what all military outfits now use rather than the old spinning mechanical reflector you see in all the old military movies. That went out 20 years ago.