Raytheon has won $7 million to advance the development and assessment of its GhostEye medium-range radar for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System.
According to the company, these are the first government contracts for GhostEye MR, a multimission radar developed by Raytheon via internal research and development investments.
“This government support confirms the growing relevance and demand for the capabilities of GhostEye MR, as nations around the globe look to bolster their air defense,” said Tom Laliberty, president of land & air defense systems at Raytheon.
This funding will support continued radar development and an operational assessment at White Sands Missile Range later this year. That experiment will explore the operational performance of the radar, with the radar providing surveillance cues and integrating with the NASAMS air defense system.
This follows the Strategic Developmental Planning & Experimentation office’s air base air defense experiment in Andøya, Norway, September 2022, which demonstrated NASAMS’ ability to engage and intercept advanced aerial threats using Raytheon missiles and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace’s Fire Distribution Center.
The operational assessment in September will build on the capabilities from Andøya by leveraging the U.S. Air Force’s relevant command and control to link GhostEye MR with NASAMS’ FDC.
“Partnering with DOD, Air Force, and Kongsberg, we will showcase the sensor’s range of capabilities against a multitude of emerging threats,” Laliberty said.
The funding relates to a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Lab’s SDPE office and the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Rapid Prototyping Program.