Cubic to Debut New Combat Training Technologies at Millennium Challenge.

Business Editors/Government & Defense Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2002

San Diego-based Cubic Corp. (AMEX:CUB) is showcasing its new mobile training and Command-and-Control (C2) technologies during Millennium Challenge 2002 -- the U.S. military's largest and most ambitious joint experiment to date.

The U.S. Joint Forces Command-sponsored experiment brings together both live field forces and computer simulations at several locations around the United States from July 24 through Aug. 15. The experiments are designed to test new technologies and techniques that will increase combat readiness in our post-September 11 world. More than 13,500 troops from all services are participating in the event, which includes scenarios in which troops on land and sea face enemies armed with chemical and biological weapons.

Millennium Challenge represents Cubic's U.S. debut of its DSTAR (Deployable System for Training and Readiness) unit, which provides mobile exercise control and analysis/C2 capability for joint forces. DSTAR is supporting the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's Millennium Dragon 02 experiments as well as the Urban Combined Arms Experiment that runs Aug. 9 to 12 at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif.

The experiments mark the first operational use of Cubic's PC-Range Instrumentation System (PC-RIS) which provides live tracking and control, and new GPS-based radio communications player units that are incorporated in Cubic's MILES 2000 laser detector vests. Both products are an integral part of DSTAR.

"These technologies allow joint forces to be tracked in real-time using global positioning satellites and mobile communications relays -- all packaged in a transportable, mobile configurations," said Gerald Dinkel, president and CEO of the Cubic Defense Applications (CDA) group. "This gives commanders anywhere in the world the ability to quickly track the location of participants (in both training and actual combat settings) at any given time, and simultaneously relay information to command posts around the world."

Dinkel noted that flexibility is a key feature of the DSTAR system as it can be adapted to support force-on-force instrumented training, mission rehearsal, tactical operations command and control, emergency preparedness and response.

"DSTAR combines the best of Cubic's air and ground combat training tools into a deployable, portable system. This equipment is ideal for urban training," said Pete Hoyt, CDA program manager.

DSTAR was also deployed for the amphibious exercises held at Camp Pendleton, Calif. This phase of the Millennium Challenge involved Marine Expeditionary Forces and Navy SEAL teams, who faced a futuristic scenario in which enemies were developing chemical or biological weapons in the Southern California desert.

The forces headed to the Victorville, where the Marines are expected to neutralize the "enemy" in an abandoned military housing complex as part of an urban combined arms experiment conducted by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory based in Quantico, Va.

During the Camp Pendleton phase of Millennium Challenge, several Marines wore MILES 2000 engagement simulation system vests with GPS-based player units that allowed the troops and CH-46 helicopter crews to be tracked by DSTAR operators during the training exercise. The tracking data was relayed in near real-time from DSTAR to the Joint Forces Command in Suffolk, Va.

The same player units are being used for the Cubic-developed Area Weapons Effects Simulator for the British Army, which will be operational in the U.K. in December 2002 and represents the state-of-the-art in large-scale combat training center instrumentation. PC-RIS, an integral part of DSTAR, will also be incorporated into the South Korean Army's combat training system and the Alaskan Training Range that sponsors Cope Thunder/Northern Edge joint services air combat training exercises.

Cubic's Defense Applications Group provides instrumented air and ground combat training systems, battle command training 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 provides a wide range of technical and logistics services.