Cubic Receives $6.2 Million Joint Tactical Radio System Waveform Development Contract; Company's Software Will Help the Military Communicate With Public Safety Agencies.

Business Editors

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 2003

Cubic Corp. (AMEX:CUB) has received a $6.2 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract from the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) in support of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Joint Program Office (JPO) to help develop the JTRS.

If exercised, options would bring the total value to almost $14 million.

Under the 18-month contract, the Communications Business Unit of Cubic Defense Applications will develop waveform software that will help all branches of the military and multiple public agencies communicate with one another.

"The military has an interest in communicating with public safety radios for Homeland Security and Defense reasons. This contract win is significant for Cubic in that it makes us a participant in what is arguably one of the most important military communications programs today," said Gerald Dinkel, president and CEO of Cubic Defense Applications (CDA).

The JTRS is a family of software definable tactical radios that provide commanders with voice, data and video capability. The state-of-the art radios are based on a common Software Communication Architecture (SCA) that ensures interoperability-or compatibility-with current and future systems.

JTRS had its genesis in lessons learned from inter-service communication problems in Grenada and during Operation Desert Storm. Troops were not able to communicate with one another because the various radio equipment used by the different services was not interoperable, or compatible, with each other.

Future JTRS compliant military radios will utilize SCA compliant hardware to run a variety of software-based waveforms for the particular communications format a radio is designed to use.

"This is a very strategic win for us in that it builds on our experience in what is known as 'software definable radio.' The software used for these radios can be likened to the software applications that run on a personal computer. It's the change in waveform software that allows these radios to be reconfigurable and interoperable, two key features the Joint Services consider essential for tactical radio communications, network-centric capabilities and reduced life cycle costs," said Rick Lober, senior vice president of CDA's communications segment.

Cubic's software will be in compliance with the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO)-25, established for the use of digital technology in modern generation two-way radio communications.

JTRS goal is to migrate today's legacy radio communications systems to systems with standard open systems architecture. This migration will be implemented in phases, balancing operational requirements, weapon system integration issues and funding constraints.

Cubic Defense Applications, one of Cubic Corp.'s two major segments, produces instrumented air and ground combat training systems, battle command training, studies and analysis, simulations and simulation support for U. S. and allied military forces. The group also produces high technology avionics, data links and communications products for government and commercial customers, and a wide range of technical and logistics services. 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.