Air Force taps Cubic for air combat training services

Cubic Defense Applications Inc. has won a $2.2 million contract from the Air Force to provide support and equipment for air combat training missions, the company announced today.

The contract is for six months and has nine one-year options. If all options are exercised, the deal could be worth $54 million.

Cubic of San Diego will be responsible for the performance of the Misawa-Osan-Kunsan-Kadena instrumentation training system. This includes management, labor, hardware and software systems, and engineering and maintenance.

The portable system allows for training flights anywhere there is suitable airspace. It is used at air bases in Japan and Korea and other locations within the Pacific Air Forces operations area. It supports single-service, bilateral, joint and combined forces missions.

The heart of the system is the instrumentation pods, which are typically mounted on a wingtip weapon station. The pods contain electronics that record and calculate simulated firings of weapons and kill messages. The information can be viewed in real-time via a data link to the ground-based display systems.

Cubic Defense Applications is a unit of Cubic Corp., also of San Diego. The unit offers services ranging from combat training systems and simulation training to products and systems for command and control applications and radio communications.

Cubic has about 4,700 employees and annual sales of $634.1 million, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas. The company ranked No. 70 on Washington Technology's 2003 Top 100 list, which measures federal contracting revenue. The 2004 list is due out in May.