Recent experiments with the GhostEye medium-range (MR) sensor showed the radar system to be an effective tool against cruise missiles, enemy aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The radar’s developer, Raytheon, an RTX company, demonstrated its system during an extended exercise at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
The demonstrations of the GhostEye sensor for the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) were performed in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) office and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. During the exercise, the GhostEye MR sensor (see image above) was integrated with NASAMS’s Air Defense Console and the Battlespace Command and Control Center (BC3) used by the U.S. Air Force.
Jim Simonds, U.S. Air Force Air Base Air Defense Program Manager at the U.S. AFRL, explained, “This experiment showed that GhostEye MR is a viable sensor option for integrated air and missile defense.” He added, “The radar clearly demonstrated its ability to be rapidly deployed and detect and track live targets precisely at longer ranges, providing increased standoff and decision-making time.”
The radar sensor works with a defense’s command-and-control system to identify which opposing air vehicles are threats and the type of responses that can be used against them.
Tom Laliberty, president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon, said, “Air bases around the world face a growing array of sophisticated airborne threats, and this exercise marked a significant step toward fielding an integrated capability for air-base air defense.”