There is a growing use of military antenna in a wide range of applications, including aerospace, naval, land-mobile, manpack, and unmanned vehicles. These communications can be anything from critical voice or text communication between units/central command or a communication link with an unmanned vehicle many miles away from the control hub. In all these use cases, and many non-military use, such as oil/gas, railroad, overland, extreme environment, or other extreme applications, ruggedness that doesn’t sacrifice electrical performance is necessary. Fortunately, there are military antennas designed specifically to offer military-grade ruggedness and fulfill the performance requirements of modern communications systems, examples include the 790 MHz to 2700 MHz Electronic Warfare Omni Antenna, and 1.15 GHz to 1.4 GHz L-band Omni Antenna.
These antennas differ from typical industrial-/commercial-grade antennas in that they are designed and tested to meet certain military specifications/standards (MIL-SPEC) and otherwise have design features that support military-style applications. For instance, military-grade antennas should be designed and tested to meet MIL-STD-810 standards for humidity, shock, vibration, blowing rain, immersion, impact, etc. Other important features include a temperature range consistent with military electronic requirements, namely from -40 to +71 ℃. Many military applications also have relatively high-power requirements for compact, portable, or low-profile antennas that are not typical with most industrial or commercial applications.
Example features that will differentiate military antennas from commercial/industrial antennas are mounting hole pattern differences, materials/color, and TAA compliance. For instance, it is not uncommon for military-grade antennas designed to be mounted externally to a chassis to have US 4 hole or NATO 3/16-hole patterns. Military-grade antennas need to be constructed of materials that can handle the harsh environments and extreme conditions presented by military applications. Lastly, US Trade Agreement Act (TAA) compliance is important for many of these antennas, which is generally not a consideration for commercial/industrial antennas.
As many modern military applications use the same frequency ranges as commercial/industrial applications, as evidenced by military communication networks increasingly relying on 4G LTE/5G and other non-proprietary wireless networking technology, military-grade and commercial/industrial antennas are likely to have overlapping frequency ranges. Though, a military antenna’s frequency range capability may be listed in common radar band designations, which is less common for commercial/industrial antennas.