– Raytheon, an RTX business, in partnership with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation office, and the U.S. Navy, demonstrated the multi-mission GhostEye MR advanced medium-range sensor during a joint test event called Gray Flag 2024.
GhostEye MR tracked targets over water, showcasing the sensor’s readiness to deter current and future threats.
GhostEye MR successfully tracked a variety of high-speed targets in a maritime environment. This most recent GhostEye MR experimentation demonstrates the success of OSD’s Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) program, which aims to accelerate the development of critical defense capabilities.
“Participating in the Gray Flag joint test event is a critical step toward achieving maturity for this multi-mission radar,” said Tom Laliberty, president of Land and Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. “GhostEye MR is the future sensor for NASAMS and will enable air defense forces around the globe to defend against a broad range of sophisticated aerial threats, as showcased during this test.”
Gray Flag 2024 presented realistic threat scenarios designed to stress the radar in simulated combat conditions. This demonstration builds on previous GhostEye MR testing in New England, White Sands Missile Range, and Yuma Proving Ground.
“Following up on last year’s OSD-funded Rapid Prototyping Program technology demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, GhostEye MR demonstrated its ability to execute extended-range detection and tracking of stressing targets in a variety of operational environments at Gray Flag 2024,” said Jim Simonds, U.S. Air Force Air Base Air Defense Program Manager at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. “The sensor’s continued interoperability with joint command and control systems during the test has GhostEye MR well positioned to deliver critical data to the joint force.”
A member of Raytheon’s GhostEye family of sensors, GhostEye MR is a 360-degree surveillance and fire control sensor, designed for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), and can detect, track and identify a wide variety of threats including those used by adversaries in large-quantity raid attacks.
The radar leverages software-defined apertures also featured in the US Army’s Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) program, enabling the radar to support multiple missions – integrated air and missile defense, counter-unmanned aircraft systems, and air base air defense. In August 2023, Raytheon was awarded its first government contract to advance development and assessment of GhostEye MR.
Source: RTX