Pentagon asks RTX to Develop GhostEye MR Radar for NASAMS Air Defense System

The Pentagon awarded Raytheon, an RTX business, a contract valued $7 million to develop and assess the GhostEye MR radar, an advanced medium-range sensor for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS).

These are the first government contracts for GhostEye MR, a multi-mission radar designed and developed by Raytheon via internal research and development investments. Funding will support continued radar development and then an operational assessment at White Sands Missile Range later this year.

The experiment at White Sands will assess the operational performance of GhostEye MR, with the radar providing effective surveillance cues and integrating with the NASAMS air defense system.

This follows the Strategic Developmental Planning & Experimentation (SDPE) office's successful air base air defense experiment in Andøya, Norway, last September, which showcased NASAMS' ability to engage and intercept various advanced aerial threats using multiple Raytheon missile types and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace's Fire Distribution Center, or FDC. The operational assessment in September will build upon the capabilities demonstrated in Andøya by utilizing the U.S. Air Force's relevant command and control to link GhostEye MR with NASAMS' FDC.

Funding consists of 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 (RPP).

GhostEye MR is an advanced 360-degree surveillance and fire control sensor designed for NASAMS that can detect, track, and identify a wide variety of threats.

Introduced in 2021, it leverages commonality with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) that Raytheon is building for the U.S. Army.