The UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) has completed a missile-seeker protective dome made from diamond to improve target detection at greater ranges.
Developed with De Beers Industrial Diamonds (DEBID), the dome will allow the use of longer infrared wavelength seekers on infrared missiles - 8-12µm as opposed to 3-5µm - says DERA's Dr Tim Mollart. Preliminary talks have been held with missile companies, he says.
Diamond is transparent to 8-12µm infrared waves as well as the shorter wavelength and visual spectrum, unlike the magnesium fluoride and sapphire used in other domes. Using diamond domes opens a "new generation of missile-seeker technology," says Mollart.
Advantages of longer-wavelength seekers include imaging the sky as a solid, cold object, which improves the resolution of potential targets. Shorter wavelengths are known to be readily scattered in moist atmospheres. Diamond can also cope with the thermal and mechanical stresses of missile carriage and firing.
Mollart says that the seeker - a world first - was completed last week. The protective dome is on show at the DERA stand. Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is used to create a sheet of polycrystalline diamond, which is polished to create a dome suitable for IR seekers mounted in the nose of a missile.
CVD has been available for years, but the proprietary polishing process developed by the organisations is only 12 months old.
Mollart says the material is expensive to manufacture because the process requires a lot of energy, but believes it could be cost-effective if there are enough orders.
Source: Flight International