Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors (MS2) of Akron, Ohio announced that under a DARPA-funded contract named ORCLE (Optical and Radio frequency Combined Link Experiment), with an initial value of $15 million, the company had been selected by the USAF Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio as prime contractor and leader of a team that includes ITT, L3Com, BAE Systems, Adaptive Optics Associates, Accipiter Systems, EMS and Dayton Aerospace, to develop and demonstrate a prototype network combining the speed of laser-based communications with the dependability of RF communications, to support the information- sharing needs of military commanders.

The Lockheed Martin announcement added that the contract calls for a range test in approximately 18 months and includes an option for a flight test after 30 months.

John Wojnar, director of advanced programs business development at Lockheed Martin MS2, was quoted as saying, "The ORCLE network is designed to recognise changing demands on the network and to react and recover on the fly to keep data flowing".

Wojnar added, "Lessons learned during recent operations point out that current communications networks rapidly become overloaded as great amounts of data are made available. It's crucial for the warfighter to have on-demand access to that data to get the right information at the right time".

- Optical Networks Daily