GhostEye radar looks to adapt to future air threats as part of NASAMS
Raytheon's GhostEye radar on display at the Paris Air Show 2025. (Janes/Andrew White)
Kongsberg has officially joined Raytheon as a co-development partner in the GhostEye air-defence radar – a next-generation sensor set to further improve Norway's National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS).
Company officials told Janes that the “advanced, mobile, medium-range air and missile defence sensor will be designed and developed by Raytheon in the US with key radar subassemblies co-developed by Kongsberg in Norway”.
The new radar will replace RTX company Raytheon's AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel 3D active radar, offering the Norwegian Armed Forces “superior performance and flexibility”, according to Eirik Lie, president, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.
Pitching GhostEye as a 360° surveillance and fire-control sensor, company officials explained how it will “increase tracking capacity to counter complex mass attacks” and “enable longer-range, higher-altitude engagements to maximise AMRAAM-ER [Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile-Extended Range] effectiveness”.
Similar to the Sentinel radar, GhostEye can be mounted on a “variety of ground vehicles” and will be capable of software-defined upgrades to “stay ahead of the threat”, company officials said.
Raytheon Land & Air Defense Systems President Tom Laliberty described how the upgraded radar will “meet the challenges of a very complex environment with the AESA [active electronically scanned array] radar providing 360° coverage to detect and track jets, attack helicopters, UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], and cruise missiles at longer ranges”.
Describing commonality with the US Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) – a Program of Record to upgrade the Patriot air-defence system – Laliberty said GhostEye could also aid the selection of the most appropriate interceptor for the threat. Interceptors from the Raytheon family currently include AMRAAM, AMRAAM-ER, and AIM‐9X Block II.
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