Raytheon’s GhostEye® MR Showcases Operational Excellence in Latest U.S. Military Trials
Raytheon, a division of RTX, collaborating with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation office, and the U.S. Navy, showcased the multi-mission GhostEye® MR advanced medium-range sensor during a collaborative test event termed Gray Flag 2024. GhostEye MR effectively monitored targets over water, highlighting the sensor’s preparedness to counteract present and future threats.
GhostEye MR proficiently tracked an assortment of high-speed targets within a maritime setting. This latest experimentation with GhostEye MR exemplifies the achievements of OSD’s Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) initiative, which seeks to expedite the advancement of essential defense capabilities.
“Engaging in the Gray Flag joint test event is a pivotal progression towards achieving the maturation of this multi-mission radar,” stated Tom Laliberty, president of Land and Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. “GhostEye MR represents the forthcoming sensor for NASAMS and will empower air defense units worldwide to safeguard against a diverse array of sophisticated aerial threats, as demonstrated during this evaluation.”
Gray Flag 2024 showcased realistic threat scenarios crafted to challenge the radar under simulated combat conditions. This demonstration enhances prior GhostEye MR assessments conducted in New England, White Sands Missile Range, and Yuma Proving Ground.
“Building on last year’s OSD-funded Rapid Prototyping Program technology demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, GhostEye MR exhibited its capability to perform extended-range detection and tracking of challenging targets across various operational settings at Gray Flag 2024,” remarked Jim Simonds, U.S. Air Force Air Base Air Defense Program Manager at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. “The sensor’s ongoing interoperability with joint command and control systems throughout the test positions GhostEye MR to deliver vital data to the joint force.”
A part of Raytheon’s GhostEye suite of sensors, GhostEye MR is a 360-degree surveillance and fire control sensor, crafted for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), and possesses the ability to detect, track, and identify a wide spectrum of threats, including those deployed by adversaries in large-scale raid assaults.
The radar utilizes software-defined apertures also incorporated in the U.S. Army’s Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) program, enabling the radar to facilitate multiple missions – integrated air and missile defense, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and air base air defense. In August 2023, Raytheon received its inaugural government contract to elevate the development and evaluation of GhostEye MR.
