High speed base drive for power amplifier

A base drive circuit for a flyback output transistor has an inductive element having series connected coils for generating a linear ramping current to the base electrode of the output transistor in response to an input pulse. A high, almost instantaneous reverse current is produced through a discharge coil that receives inductively coupled energy from the current generating coils. The ratio of the maximum input current to the discharge current is established by the number of coils generating the input current versus the number of coils in the discharge circuit. Linearity of the base drive current is maintained by dissipating any excess energy in the inductive element to ground prior to each input pulse.