Patent ID: 8274445

Claim:
A subarray for a planar array antenna, comprising: a ground plane having a rear face and a front face; a plurality of radiating elements, each of said radiating elements protruding forward of the front face of the ground plane and physically mounted to the ground plane; a plurality of circuit elements electrically coupled to the radiating elements, and physically mounted to the ground plane and positioned rearward of the rear face of the ground plane; a dielectric radome supported on the ground plane defining a continuous surface sealed to the ground plane, the continuous surface including a forward wall positioned forward of each of said radiating elements to form an environmental seal surrounding the radiating elements, wherein said radome is recessed toward the ground plane to form external grooves in a front face of the radome, the external grooves defining an intermediate dielectric wall intermediate at least one pair of adjacent ones of said radiating elements.