Raytheon Awarded Contract to Continue Work on Space Fence

(Editor's note: The following information was provided by public relations firms representing Raytheon and Atamian Volksgwagon.)

has been awarded a $107 million U.S. Air Force contract to further the design of the Space Fence system.

Under this contract, Raytheon will deliver a preliminary design and test a functional radar prototype to ensure cost and schedule certainty and technical maturity of the final design in support of Milestone B.

"As the amount of debris in space continues to rise, the ability to detect smaller and smaller objects with more affordable, ground-based sensors becomes increasingly urgent," said Dave Gulla, vice president, National & Theater Security Programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "Leveraging our vast heritage in radar development, combined with our latest technological advancements, the Raytheon Space Fence solution provides the Air Force with an affordable and much-needed, increased space situational awareness capability for many years to come."

The work performed during this phase continues to reduce total program risk through the development of a preliminary design with mature technologies that meet or exceed Technology Readiness Level 6 and Manufacturing Readiness Level 6. In addition, a functional radar prototype, with hardware and software components representative of the technology in the final design, will demonstrate the maturity of these critical technologies.

"We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Air Force and identifying areas of opportunity to increase affordability and eliminate risk from the program," said Scott Spence, program director, Space Fence program for Raytheon IDS.

This contract is the second phase of a multiphase acquisition program, leading to the delivery of up to three, globally positioned, S-band radars operating in the U.S. Space Surveillance Network. Space Fence is a modern, net-centric sensor capable of detecting more and much-smaller objects in low earth orbit and medium earth orbit to provide greater completeness, accuracy, and timeliness to meet warfighter space situational awareness requirements.

Kevin Richardson promoted to general sales manager at Atamian

The Atamian Family, owners of announces the promotion of Kevin Richardson to general sales manager.

Richardson has been with Atamian for over five years, starting as a business manager in 2005 and working his way up to sales manager and then being promoted to this position. A lifelong resident of Lowell, Richardson got into the auto business at the age of 18 and knew it was where he belonged. As the general sales manager, Richardson is tasked with not only managing the sales department, but also increasing sales overall for the dealership.

“It is a pleasure to work for a company that has supported my growth throughout my career. I look forward for many more years with Atamian,” said Richardson.

., expressed how important it is  to him to promote from within.

“We have always prided ourselves on recognizing the strengths of individuals in the company and working with those strengths to grow each employee,” he said. “Kevin is a prime example of someone whose dedication, knowledge and skill set was a true asset to the dealerships and we’re proud to see how he has grown in the past five years.”