Image: BAE Systems
BAE Systems has launched Silver Link™, a modular conformal antenna portfolio designed to accelerate integration into air dominance platforms while cutting cost and development timelines.
BAE Systems has introduced Silver Link™, a new family of conformal antenna aperture solutions targeting next-generation airborne communications and air dominance programmes. The product line draws on more than 30 years of antenna design experience and is backed by significant internal investment to drive faster delivery and fleet-scale production.
Built for Speed and Scale
The Silver Link™ portfolio addresses a persistent challenge in defence procurement: the time and expense of custom antenna design. Traditional bespoke development cycles can delay programme timelines and inflate costs. BAE Systems says Silver Link™ eliminates that bottleneck.
“With Silver Link™, we are leveraging our rich legacy of delivering results for our customers with speed and scale,” said Lindsay McEwen, Vice President and General Manager of Tactical Solutions for BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems. She added the company is “backing it with significant internal investment to move faster, reduce cost, and eliminate integration risk.”
The antennas are designed to move rapidly from prototype to full fleet integration — a priority for customers managing compressed acquisition schedules and tight cost parameters.
Conformal Design Preserves Platform Integrity
A key feature of the Silver Link™ line is its conformal architecture. The antennas conform to the curvature of host platforms, preserving aerodynamic and structural integrity. This design approach avoids the drag penalties and structural modifications associated with traditional protruding antenna hardware.
BAE Systems says the solutions integrate seamlessly with any host platform and are built to meet evolving mission requirements. The company describes the antennas as delivering assured communications — a critical capability as military operators increasingly depend on resilient, jam-resistant datalinks in contested environments.
Manufacturing Capacity Already in Place
BAE Systems has expanded its facilities to support in-house rapid prototyping and mass production of Silver Link™ solutions. The company says manufacturing capacity is already in place to deliver at scale, positioning the product line to support fleet-wide deployment across global theatres.
The emphasis on rate manufacturing readiness reflects broader trends in Western defence procurement. Governments and prime contractors face growing pressure to move beyond small-scale prototyping and deliver capable systems at volume — particularly as peer adversaries accelerate their own military modernisation.
Industry Context
Conformal antennas have become a competitive priority in tactical aviation. As platforms grow more software-defined and mission sets more complex, the antenna aperture — once an afterthought — now plays a central role in electronic warfare, communications, and sensor integration. BAE Systems’ move to productise this capability signals a shift toward standardised, catalogue-style solutions over one-off engineering efforts.
Silver Link™ sits within BAE Systems’ broader Space & Mission Systems portfolio and targets both existing and emerging air dominance programmes. Further technical details are available on the BAE Systems Silver Link™ product page.
Source: BAE Systems press release
