Grumman G-698 V/STOL (US Navy "Type A" proposal)

[apparition13]

I actually translated part of the text from the image comparing the G-698 with the E-2, S-3, and CH-47, and apparently one of it's proposed roles was surveillance and identification(basically the role of the E-2). That I know of, I don't see how it could fulfill such a role. Looking at the plane it's compared to, the E-2, you couldn't put a radom like the E-2s on the G-698, since that would severely interfere with the engines.

Two possibilities I can think of, top of the tail, and I believe Grumman was seriously looking into conformal arrays, although I'm not sure on the timeline for that. Whether they could have pulled that off given tech of the time is another question.

 

[TomS]

Two possibilities I can think of, top of the tail, and I believe Grumman was seriously looking into conformal arrays, although I'm not sure on the timeline for that. Whether they could have pulled that off given tech of the time is another question.

If you read the patent in post 11, it discusses the use of integrated antennas -- slotted arrays on each side of the fuselage and in the leading and trailing edges of the wing. The last image, labeled Fig 10, shows the coverage of each antenna.

 

[timmyjohn]

Fred Ganz et al started working on conformal UHF arrays in the 1974 timeframe. The updated patent is attached. This antenna scheme was foundational to Grumman's configurations for Type A V/STOL, VAWX, AMSS, MMVX, MPSNA, ATSA, and the jet-powered concepts of the E-2 and C-2. Typical of Grumman's advanced design "stovepipes" in the post-F14 era, no serious cross-discipline integration effort was undertaken of this avionics/sensor technology until ATSA or E-2X (don't recall which), when it was discovered that the weight, volume and cooling requirements were much more severe than guestimated during the prior 15+ years. That may be what killed conformal UHF as a replacement for the classic rotodome, but I don't know for certain.

 

[yak38]

Here's the link to the full patent.