Gallium nitride transitions

For years, DARPA and its Service partners pursued the technically daunting task of developing high-power-density, wide-band-gap semiconductor components in the recognition that, whatever the end-state task, U.S. forces would need electronics that could operate and engage at increasing range. 

The result was a series of fundamental advances involving gallium nitride-enabled arrays, which now provide significant benefits in a wide range of applications in the national security domain.

Three major systems were enabled by DARPA’s advances in radio frequency (RF) component technology: 

• Next Generation Jammer, designed to give the U.S. Navy the ability to jam adversary radars to protect U.S. assets
• Air and Missile Defense Radar, which is designed to search for and track ballistic missiles and provide terminal illumination of targets
• Space Fence, to boost space domain awareness by providing vastly improved detection of small objects in orbit.