Abstract: The paper proposes a novel tightly coupled dipole array antenna element design, and combines the equivalent circuit to analyze and optimize antenna parameters. The design introduces frequency selective surface placed above the antenna aperture to replace the traditional dielectric superstrate for wideband and wide-angle impedance matching. The balun employs microstrip to coplanar parallel two-wire transition structure to achieve balanced feed and impedance transformation. A prototype is simulated and the results show that the design provides a 3∶1 (from 2 GHz to 6 GHz) bandwidth while scanning to 80° in E-plane and scanning to 45° in H-plane, with an active VSWR < 3. Besides, the cross-polarization isolation of the array at broadside is kept at 25 dB, but the antenna gain is reduced due to the loss of the resistive FSS. The antenna has a simple and compact structure, easy to fabricate, thus realizes miniaturization of a tightly coupled array.