Defense and space contractors are adding scores of jobs and thousands of square feet of production space on the South Coast.

In the midst of a down economy, the tri-county divisions of defense giants Raytheon and Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, are hiring for engineering and other high-paying positions and breaking ground on new facilities that will build solar panels to power future astronauts to the moon in the Unites States’ next generation of spacecraft.

Nationally, ATK rakes in $4.6 billion a year and Raytheon $23 billion, and the two companies provide a lot of jobs in the Tri-Counties.

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