Lucent wins two defense research contracts

Lucent Technologies Inc. has won two research and development contracts totaling nearly $26 million from the Defense Department, the company announced today.

Under a $13.4 million contract, Lucent of Murray Hill, N.J., will perform the second phase of the Coherent Communications Imaging and Targeting program, which aims to demonstrate new technologies for high-speed and long-range laser communication.

CCIT research will be completed by March 2006, and the platform will be demonstrated with the Air Force shortly thereafter, the company said.

Under a $12.5 million contract, Bell Labs, the research and development arm for Lucent, will provide services for the Integrated Router Interconnected Spectrally program, which focuses on next-generation, superfast, ultra-high capacity optical communications.

The Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., will administer the IRIS award, the company said. The Bell Labs-led team includes the University of California at Santa Cruz, Lehigh University of Bethlehem, Pa., and Agility Communications Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif.

In February, Lucent won a one-year contract worth $11.5 million to research, develop and demonstrate an ultra-high capability, highly secure ad-hoc wireless communication systems for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Mobile Networked, Multiple-Input, Multiple Output program.

Lucent offers systems, services and software for next-generation communications networks. The company has more than 34,500 employees and annual sales of $8.4 billion, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.