Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering for Defense Technology.
Senior industrial design and mechanical engineering on a monthly retainer, embedded in your team, from proof of concept to manufacture-ready.
Companies we have worked with:
Hardware design for defense and dual-use programs
Defense technology has become one of the fastest-moving hardware sectors in Europe, driven by a wave of new primes and dual-use startups building unmanned systems, ISR payloads, edge compute, and rugged field hardware. The engineering bar is high, procurement cycles are long, and the design work has to hold up to both the operator and the acquisition officer.
Lucent brings industrial design and mechanical engineering for defense technology teams that need senior capability now, without waiting six months to hire it internally. We are an EU-based team, which means we can work on European defense programs without the ITAR exposure that a US-only vendor would introduce.
Capabilities inside the retainer.
One embedded team, one monthly fee. Scroll through what sits inside the contract, from first sketch to release package.
06 capabilities
- 01 / 06
Rugged enclosures and environmental sealing
IP-rated housings, gasket strategy, cable glands, and thermal management for outdoor, vehicle-mounted, and airborne hardware. Designed against realistic drop, vibration, and ingress requirements.
- 02 / 06
Unmanned systems and payload integration
Airframes, ground stations, and modular payload bays for UAS, UGV, and USV platforms. CAD packages that integrate cleanly with the vehicle bus, mounting rail, and power spec.
- 03 / 06
ISR payloads and sensor housings
Optical windows, gimbal mounts, and sensor enclosures for ISR and situational awareness hardware. Thermal paths sized against continuous-operation duty cycles.
- 04 / 06
Mil-spec-adjacent design intent
We design against relevant MIL-STD environmental, shock, and EMC targets from the start, so the pre-compliance test lab is not a rewrite. We coordinate with your test lab and integrate their findings back into the CAD.
- 05 / 06
Dual-use hardware for civil and defense buyers
One product family that serves both the commercial and defense side of your roadmap, without duplicating the mechanical work. Common enclosures, differentiated interfaces where the mission requires it.
- 06 / 06
Field-serviceable architecture
Modular assemblies, captive fasteners, and tool-light service access, so an operator in the field can swap a module without a bench and a torque wrench they do not have.
Selected work.
View all →
Defense Aerospace
Airframe and chassis design for an unmanned aerial platform, delivered under NDA for a European defense technology company.
Want to see whether a retainer fits your roadmap?
How do you work with defense technology teams under NDA?
Defense programs demand rigor at both ends of the process. Early concept work has to survive a technical review at a prime, and late-stage engineering has to survive a first-article inspection at a supplier who has never seen your part before. Industrial design and mechanical engineering for defense technology means holding both bars at once, on a timeline the program office can defend.
We are comfortable operating inside classified-adjacent programs where the physical hardware is unclassified but sits next to systems that are not. Work happens under mutual NDA, on access-controlled infrastructure, with a documented handling policy that your program manager can share with their security lead.
Why does an EU-based team matter for European defense programs?
For European defense primes and dual-use startups, working with a US-based industrial design or mechanical engineering vendor can introduce ITAR complications that slow the program down or restrict future export options. An EU-based team removes that variable for the mechanical and industrial design layer of your hardware.
We are not an ITAR-registered US vendor and we do not take on programs that would require us to be one. For programs that need US-touch engineering, we work alongside a US partner under the appropriate framework rather than pretending the constraint does not exist.
How the retainer works.
- 0120–30 min
Intro call
We learn the solution, the stage, and what is blocking you. No pitch, no slide deck.
- 022–4 weeks
Design sprint
A fixed-fee starter project on one clear deliverable, so you see how we work before any ongoing commitment.
- 031 session
Sprint review
We present the work and map the next 90 days together, what to build, what to validate, what to leave alone.
- 04Monthly
Retainer
We scope the real workload and send a proposal for a fixed monthly fee. Embedded team, no time-tracking, cancel with notice.
Common questions.
- Every engagement starts with a mutual NDA before we see any technical detail. For defense programs we also sign program-specific NDAs and handling agreements when your security lead requires them.
- Yes, on the unclassified physical hardware layer. We do not hold facility clearances, so we do not touch classified information directly. When the program crosses that line, we hand off to a cleared vendor for the classified portion and stay on the unclassified enclosure and mechanical work.
- No. We are an EU-based team and do not take on programs that would require ITAR registration. This is deliberate. It keeps our work on European defense programs clean and it keeps export options open for your product.
- Yes. Airframe and payload work for UAS and UGV platforms, ground station enclosures, and modular payload bays that integrate with the vehicle bus and mounting rail.
- Yes. GD&T drawing packages to ASME Y14.5, full BOMs, DFM reports, and pre-compliance test coordination. We work with your test lab and format the deliverables to match the program's documentation standard.
Let's design your next solution, together.
Tell us where the solution is and what's blocking you, we'll tell you honestly whether a retainer makes sense, or what we'd do instead.