GhostEye's Watchful Gray Flag Gaze Bodes Well For NASAMS

Raytheon has hailed the performance of its GhostEye MR radar in tracking high-speed targets in a maritime environment in the wake of a successful test at the U.S. Navy exercise Gray Flag 2024.

As per a recent press statement from the RTX firm, GhostEye MR successfully tracked targets moving at high velocities over water, "showcasing the sensor's readiness to deter current and future threats."

The system was put through its paces at Gray Flag 24, held at Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California during the last week of September. Raytheon has been partnering with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) on its 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 Defence Systems at Raytheon. "GhostEye MR is the future sensor for NASAMS and will enable air defence forces around the globe to defend against a broad range of sophisticated aerial threats, as showcased during this test."

NASAMS is the National [or Norwegian] Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, a networked short- to medium-range  Ground-Based Air Defence (GBAD) system jointly developed with Norwegian defence giant Kongsberg. As per the Kongsberg website it's currently in use by 15 nations globally and its recent most recent capabilities are the AMRAAM Extended Range missile (AMRAAM ER) and the AIM-9X-2. AMRAAM ER significantly extends the engagement volume of NASAMS, while the AIM-9X-2 is optimized for shorter ranges. 

Gray Flag 2024 presented realistic threat scenarios designed to test the radar to its limits in simulated combat conditions, building on previous GhostEye MR testing in New England, White Sands Missile Range, and Yuma Proving Ground.

"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 defence 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."

GhostEye MR is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), a type of computer-controlled phased array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without physically moving the equipment.

A 360-degree surveillance and fire control sensor, it has been designed for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS). It can detect, track and identify a wide variety of threats including those used by adversaries in large-quantity raid attacks. GhostEye MR can support multiple missions — integrated air and missile defence, Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-UAS) and air base air defence.

• You can read more details on the RTX website