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A companion paper in this conference gave an overview of the Joint Radome Programme results (paper 2322). This paper reports on experiments that were able to reproduce some features of the failures to radomes that had occurred in-flight despite passing ground based tests. The electric field environment reviewed in the programme suggested that for most lightning strikes a more realistic test was to use a destressed electrode and the slower high voltage waveform D, rather than a rod electrode and a faster waveform A. Moreover other recent work also reported at this conference by Drumm et al, suggested that segmented divertor strips require higher light up voltages for slower voltage gradient waveforms. Therefore a series of tests with this revised test configuration have been conducted on some A320 radomes supplied by DGA Toulon France equipped with segmented strips that had experienced in-flight failures.

The Joint Radome Programme was formed in February 1993 to investigate and research the effects of lightning and static electricity on aircraft radomes and dielectric fairings. Some preliminary results were presented at the Williamsberg Conference in 1995. Since then experiments have been completed that have recreated in the laboratory some of the features of in-flight failures; these have included both radome measles and punctures of radomes that had previously passed existing test methods. This paper gives an overview of some of the key results and the implications on test techniques.