Ukraine NASAMS Global Team
Raytheon
For unprecedented global teambuilding and collaboration; for expeditiously deploying critical air defense systems during a pandemic; and for a strong, united front in support of democracy and of Ukraine warfighters.
The escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war created an unprecedented need to deploy rapid air-defense capabilities to protect civilians and critical life-support infrastructure in Ukraine. Raytheon in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) in Norway, partnered with the United States government (USG) to deliver the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) to Ukraine. The system is a proven medium-range air defense solution that senses, identifies, and intercepts threats before they hit their intended target.
The Ukraine NASAMS global cross-functional team of engineers, business development, program management, compliance, supply chain, quality, training, and contracting specialists based in the United States, Norway, Germany, and Ukraine was poised to meet the challenge. The NASAMS team collaborated to provide a technical solution meeting operational requirements on an extremely accelerated schedule to help defend democracy during an active conflict.
The team overcame technical and bureaucratic challenges while maintaining regulatory compliance for classified defense services within an extremely tight timeline that had never been achieved before. This was accomplished through well-coordinated communication built on mutual trust and decades of NASAMS development by Raytheon and KDA. The cross-functional global team was able to quickly remove roadblocks and develop solutions, working primarily through virtual collaboration tools.
Netta Lomasney, the Ukraine campaign and capture executive at Raytheon, led this global team effort. She leveraged strong relationships with the Ukraine end users and various United States government entities to move the program forward. Together with Tommy Wong, senior director of NASAMS programs, and Sarah Reardon, proposal manager, the team aligned on a statement of work and course of action in record time. Raytheon’s engineering leaders, Susanna Drinkuth and Phil Jones, based in the United States, worked closely with Arve Hoiberg and Odd Terje “OJO” Johansen in Norway to complete the solution analysis. Laura Bear led the Raytheon program management team and worked seamlessly with partner John Stale Rist from KDA in Norway. Tanna Tellez led contracting support with David Spiegel and Jennifer Cochrane, overseeing the KDA subcontract activities and delivering the contract in record time. Holli Ashby and Michael Carabetta managed classified security and regulatory/export compliance activities, respectively, with the USG.
Karen Tuttle, Raytheon whole-life engineer, and Erling Bergelokken, KDA training and documentation manager, designed an effective accelerated training plan for the Ukrainian end users that was then executed by Kjell Larsen, Roger Auran, and Eva Aadahl Hansen in Norway.
Haoli Couden, medium-range air defense program director, led a team of forward-support resources in Poland that continue to provide 24/7 active coverage, handling questions from end users and quickly resolving operational and technical issues.
Lessons learned from Ukraine’s active conflict will influence continued upgrade efforts for existing and future NASAMS partner nations in their layered air and missile defense strategy. Overall, this diverse, global team of primarily women leaders leveraged their technical and operational expertise and their relationship and conflict management skills to bring much-needed NASAMS capability to Ukraine.