I was wondering about the spiral antennae on the HARM seeker - ie. why do it this way instead of just four simple dipoles. I wonder if the varying width of the antenna helps it capture multiple wavelengths simultaneously, which would certainly help the seeker cope with radars of various wavelengths.
Correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_antenna
At the same time, my naive understanding of radio mechanics tells me that it would be blind to a bunch of wavelengths because of this as well (but you get a lot of bandwidth to help you deal with actual threat/guidance radars, so it's not all bad).
Spiral is one of the best choice for frequency and polarization independent, small sized antenna.
Low gain is not an issue in ARM role.
