Cubic Hands Over World's Most Sophisticated Combat Training System to U.K.'s British Army Training Unit, Suffield.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 2003

Contract Includes Two Years of O&M Support with Options for an

Additional 13 Years

The defense segment of Cubic Corp. (AMEX:CUB) has officially handed over the new Area Weapons Effect Simulator (AWES) -- the world's most capable land-based combat training system -- to the British Army Training Unit at Suffield (BATUS) in Alberta, Canada.

AWES creates the best-ever simulation of a real battle at the British Army's BATUS training area in Canada and the U.K.-based Salisbury Plain Training Area. Cubic Defense Applications handed over the U.K. portion of AWES to the British Army last December.

AWES gives the British Army its first objective means of measuring troops' performance during large-scale military exercises. The enhanced Tactical Engagement Simulation (TES) system accurately tracks, monitors and records the actions of individual soldiers and combat vehicles for post-mission analysis. The training realism for both direct and indirect fire far surpasses anything that has been developed.

"AWES represents a quantum leap for land combat training and serves as a model for future large-scale training systems," said Gerald Dinkel, president and CEO of the Cubic Defense Applications (CDA) group. "We are extremely proud to deliver a system of this caliber to the British Army. We also look forward to supporting the evolving requirements for AWES for years to come."

Cubic developed, installed and delivered AWES under contracts totaling $130 million that were awarded in 1998. The contracts include two years of operations and maintenance support, beginning immediately following the handover, with options for an additional 13 years.

AWES is designed to support joint, combined arms training missions that also include fixed wing and rotary wing components and is easily adaptable to mobile, PC-based training systems that can be rapidly deployed.

A key feature of AWES is its timely, accurate simulation of area weapons effects. In addition to replicating the "direct fire" from individual weapons and vehicles, the AWES addition to TES training accurately simulates "indirect" events such as artillery, mortar fire, smoke, nuclear, biological, chemical attacks, mines and air-delivered munitions.

Other major enhanced TES components added through the AWES contract include new soldier and vehicle instrumentation systems and a software-based system for exercise planning, mission control and After Action Reviews. Participants in the training exercises are equipped with digital communications that indicate their position, weapons fired and casualty status.

"The integration of indirect threats and 100 percent participant instrumentation and position tracking into the UK's combat training exercises is the primary differentiator that sets AWES apart from all other systems in use today," said Gary Shrock, CDA vice president, International Ground Combat Training Systems. "In addition, AWES is the first major combat training center to fully outfit and instrument its individual soldiers with Cubic's laser-based MILES 2000 and position tracking system."

AWES integrates portions of the British Army's existing Direct Fire Weapons Engagement System (DFWES) with MILES 2000 - an advanced TES system that allows soldiers to fire "laser" bullets from the same weapons they'd use in combat. The DFWES components, provided by Saab, are mounted on combat vehicles and work in conjunction with Cubic-developed GPS-based instrumentation and tracking systems.

The AWES equipment allows analysts to graphically track the vehicles and soldiers in near-real time on sophisticated computer-generated maps located in the Exercise Control Center. (EXCON). The system also captures and records the players' casualty status, including "hits," "misses" and "kills," and sends the information to the EXCON for real-time training analysis.

The casualty status of the individual soldiers is provided by MILES 2000. The soldiers are each equipped with MILES 2000 helmet arrays and vests studded with laser detectors, and weapons mounted with laser transmitters. The soldiers' laser transmitters fire laser pulses at targets upon detection of the detonation of blank rounds fired during simulated battles.

The recorded information is reviewed during AARs, which are conducted in either a stationary theater or two mobile theaters in the field. The AARs allow commanders to see accurately and first-hand those areas where troops performed well, as well as areas that need to be improved.

The two AWES sites feature three buildings for exercise control and logistics support, and seven infrastructure towers filled with electronic communication monitoring and control equipment.

Future plans for AWES include the addition of mobile training capabilities and the integration of the new Bowman radio communication system. AWES is also designed to support future interoperability with the Helicopter Collective Training System and the Rangeless Airborne Instrumented Debriefing System.

The Cubic Defense Applications group, one of Cubic's two major segments, provides realistic combat training systems for military forces as well as simulation training, force transformation assistance, educational services, operations & maintenance, and manufacturing services. The group also supplies products and systems for C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance) applications, search and rescue avionics and radio communications for military and civil markets. The corporation's other major segment, Cubic Transportation Systems, designs and manufactures automatic fare collection systems for public mass transit authorities. For more information about Cubic, see the company's Web site at www.cubic.com.