Cubic-Developed Area Weapons Effect Simulator -AWES- Operational in United Kingdom, Nearing Completion in Canada.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 2003 British Army Training Unit Suffield The British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) is a unit located at the vast training area of Canadian Forces Base Suffield in Alberta, Canada. BATUS is generally regarded as the British Army's largest armoured training field in the world and it can accommodate live-firing in Alberta to Integrate a Wide Variety of Simulated Threats into Ground Combat Training, Including Weapons of Mass Destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or After completing the installation of the most advanced ground combat training system in the world in the United Kingdom last year, San Diego-based Cubic Corp. (AMEX AMEX See: American Stock Exchange :CUB) has set its sights on completing a second installation of the Area Weapons Effect Simulator (AWES) in Canada. Under a 1998 contract with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, prime contractor Cubic launched AWES in the U.K. last December, and is scheduled to complete the Canadian portion of AWES by August 2003. Cubic's defense segment has already installed electronic equipment in exercise control, logistics support and communications facilities for the AWES system at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS BATUS British Army Training Unit Suffield (Alberta, Canada) BATUS British American Tobacco - US ) site in Alberta, Canada. The company also delivered 100 percent of the required individual and vehicle combat training systems equipment to Canada, completed all required integration and formal testing, and is in the initial stages of overall AWES system trials there. AWES is the exercise control, position tracking and area weapons indirect-fire effects portion of the British Army's Enhanced Tactical Engagement Simulation A Tactical Engagement Simulation (TES) is a training system for using weapons. Laser transmitters are used instead of bullets, larger rounds, or shorter-range guided weapons such as anti-tank missiles. (TES TES Times Educational Supplement (publication) TES The Elder Scrolls (series of computer games) TES Thermal Emission Spectrometer TES Teaching Every Student TES Thermal Energy Storage ) system, a training system with features not found in any other combat training system in existence today. The other two elements of Enhanced TES are Cubic's Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System The Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System or MILES is used by the United States Armed Forces and other armed forces around the world for training purposes. It uses lasers and blank cartridges to simulate actual battle. (MILES) laser-based combat training system, Cubic's Direct Fire Weapons Effect Simulation (DFWES DFWES Direct Fire Weapons Effect Simulation ) system for dismounted players, and Saab's DFWES system placed on armored and other military vehicles Military vehicles include all land combat and transportation vehicles, excluding rail-based, which are designed for or are in significant use by military forces. See also list of armoured fighting vehicles. taking part in exercises. Here's how the system works: At both TES sites, at the Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain, undulating, mostly barren chalk plateau, c.300 sq mi (780 sq km), Wiltshire, S England. It is noted chiefly as the site of ancient monuments, of which Stonehenge is the most famous. The region is also an army training ground. Training Area in the U.K. and BATUS in Canada, British Army The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the governments and armed forces of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. soldiers participating in live force-on-force training exercises are equipped with 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 during simulated battles. This action is completely transparent to the firer. These direct-fire laser bullets are used to simulate the direct-fire casualty effects of each soldier's target engagements on the battlefield. The AWES system tracks each participant's and vehicle's position location with GPS technology while recording their weapons engagements, including "hits," "misses," "kills" and shooter-to-target pairing for after-action reviews. What sets AWES apart from all other systems in use today is its integration of a wider array of weapons effects into combat training exercises that stretch beyond small arms and vehicle weapons direct-fire effects. These new simulated weapons effects include artillery, mortar fire, smoke, nuclear, biological and chemical attacks, mines and air-delivered munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. . Natural and manmade obstacles can also be presented as real constraints on maneuver, allowing greater realism. "The Enhanced Tactical Engagement Simulation (TES) is the first ground combat training system to fully integrate such a wide array of threats," said Phil Heltman, vice president and general manager of Air, Land and Joint Combat Training Systems for Cubic Defense Applications (CDA (1) (Compact Disc Audio) The compact disc file extension that is seen on the computer in Explorer or some other file manager. CDA files are actually pointers to the locations of the individual tracks on the CD medium. See CD-DA. ). "Enhanced TES training will be invaluable to British soldiers training in both the U.K. and Canada to meet the challenges of 21st century warfare, and Cubic is proud to be part of that training." Cubic spent more than four years developing, constructing, producing, installing, field-testing, integrating and conducting trials of its AWES system elements. "Enhanced TES is the most ambitious and sophisticated ground combat training system ever created," said Gary Shrock, senior director and AWES program manager for CDA. "It provides fully instrumented force-on-force combined arms training at two large ground training areas, at SPTA SPTA Spectrin, Alpha SPTA Silicon Prairie Technology Association SPTA Southern Pressure Treaters Association (Gulf Shores, Alabama) SPTA Saint Petersburg Telegraph Agency (PTA predecessor 1904-1914) in the U.K. and BATUS in Canada, served by three buildings for exercise control and logistics support, seven infrastructure towers filled with electronic communication monitoring and control equipment, and many new, state-of-the-art products that were custom-designed to meet the unique requirements of the British Army. As a result, the United Kingdom now has a comprehensive training system covering all of the most serious potential threats of war. This system will be a model for all future ground combat training systems developed on this scale." Other Cubic Efforts in Canada The AWES project in Suffield, Alberta, Canada is one of several recent Cubic initiatives in that nation. On March 3, Cubic announced it had been awarded a $92 million contract to develop and install an instrumented land-based combat training system for the Canadian Armed Forces. The Canadian Weapons Effects Simulation (WES WES World Education Services WES Waterways Experiment Station WES Washington Elementary School (Visalia, California) WES Women's Engineering Society (UK) WES West Elementary School ) system will include Cubic's new Precision Combat Training System; advanced software-based exercise control and after-action review technology; Cubic's Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) and components from Oscmar International, Ltd., a New Zealand-based subsidiary of Cubic Corp. Last August, Cubic delivered to the Canadian Forces an upgraded CF-18 Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) system featuring new "rangeless" training technology. This technology allows pilots to train in any available airspace using GPS technology rather than relying on a fixed ground infrastructure. Cubic delivered the Canadian Forces' first ACMI system in 1982 and has maintained the system ever since. The Cubic Defense Applications group, one of Cubic's two major segments, provides realistic combat training systems for military forces as well simulation training, force transformation assistance, educational services, operations & maintenance, and manufacturing services. The group also supplies products and systems for C4ISR C4ISR Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance C4ISR Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance C4ISR Command Control Communications Computers Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (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. |
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