Cubic Completes Construction Phase of AWES Contract for British Army.

Business Editors

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2001

Cubic Defense Systems, a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corp. (AMEX:CUB), has completed the infrastructure for the most sophisticated and realistic combat training system in the world today -- the British Army's Area Weapons Effects Simulator (AWES) system.

As prime contractor of the massive AWES project, Cubic is responsible for designing, developing, manufacturing and delivering two ground combat training systems; one for the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA) in the United Kingdom and a second for the British Army Training Unit at Suffield (BATUS) in the Canadian province of Alberta.

The AWES infrastructure, which consists of three buildings and seven large communications towers and electronic shelters in the United Kingdom and Canada, is a significant portion of Cubic's AWES effort. Cubic recently completed construction of four 30- to 40-meter communications towers and one exercise control and logistic building in United Kingdom, and three 100-meter towers and two exercise control and logistic buildings in Canada. The construction teams led by Cubic will participate in a "handover ceremony" in June for the acceptance of the Canadian building. Cubic expects a handover of the U.K. building in July.

"With these building handover events, a significant milestone has been reached on the AWES program that will set the stage for the next project phase," said Phil Heltman, vice president of training systems for Cubic Defense Systems. "During the next 12 months, major portions of the system will be installed into this infrastructure, integrated and delivered prior to completion in mid-2002. This is an exciting and fulfilling time culminating nearly three years of engineering effort."

Gary Shrock, Cubic Defense Systems program director for AWES, said AWES builds on the state-of-the-art systems previously installed by Cubic for the U.S. Army at the Combat Maneuvering Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany, and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La. Shrock said AWES adds many new and exciting features to tactical engagement simulation training not achieved anywhere in the world today.

An overarching instrumentation system will bring three separate functions -- Exercise Control (EXCON), After-Action Review (AAR) and area weapons simulation -- under a single roof, with capability for AARs in either a stationary theater or two mobile vehicles in the field. AWES will also include direct-fire weapon effects simulation (DFWES) by providing MILES 2000 small arms weapons, and will interface to the existing Saab BT46 DFWES system currently used on U.K. vehicles.

AWES will feature a fully automated asset tracking and positioning system utilizing GPS technology and a Cubic-built digital data link for capturing player position and events, reporting them to the EXCON facility in real time, and providing electronic footprints of area weapons. The new, automated system will replace the current practice of manually tracking combat elements such as soldiers and vehicles during an exercise to generate a visual display of their whereabouts. With this new system, the automated tracking system will take over this function, serving as an "eye in the sky" for the EXCON staff.

Building on 10 years of development of tactical engagement simulation training systems, Cubic has completed development, code production and unit testing of the AWES software and expects to conduct qualification testing within the next few months. The project is in the early stages of in-house hardware qualification testing of approximately 2,500 AWES man-worn vests and nearly 600 vehicle-unique assemblies.

Dennis Rogers, Cubic's chief engineer for AWES, said the vehicle components, vests and special AWES versions of the MILES 2000 Small Arms Transmitters have already undergone successful ergonomic trials run by the British Army. Within the next 12 months, the entire system will go through additional field testing. The testing will begin with platoon level trials and graduate to company and battle group by mid 2002.

"The AWES system is the most advanced training program for tactical engagement simulation system training under development in the world today, building on over 30 years of training area system development," Shrock said. "Because of our experience over the last 10 years in fielding ground-based simulation products, the AWES design includes features and capabilities available to no system in existence in the world today or in the near future. We are working closely and in partnership with the British Army to research and develop a truly integrated battle space training solution for 21st century warfare."