Cubic awarded $24 million SPAWAR contract
to develop weapons threat assessment software
SAN DIEGO,
Calif. – March 23, 2006 -- The defense segment
of Cubic Corporation (AMEX: CUB) has received a three-year,
$24 million contract from the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare
Systems Command (SPAWAR) to develop new software tools to
help the U.S. military prepare for enemy attacks involving
chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons.
Cubic will design, develop, test and support the fielding
of the new software applications as prime contractor for
the Joint Operational Effects Federation (JOEF) program.
Ultimately, the Department of Defense (DoD) and all branches
of the U.S. armed forces will use the JOEF tools to assess
and plan for CBRN threats to U.S. military air, land, and
sea operations.
“The JOEF software is going to revolutionize the way
the Department of Defense conducts CBRN preparation activities,” said
Dr. Tom Stark, principal scientist for Cubic’s Threat
Technologies Division in Kingstowne, Virginia. “The
software will standardize and automate estimating processes,
and also add analytical underpinning.”
Cubic personnel in Kingstowne and San Diego will work with
both DoD and all in-theater combatant commands to determine
user requirements. Cubic is expected to deliver a base set
of networked, collaborative modeling, analysis and workflow
management tools during the first two years of the program.
These tools will help DoD and service users formally assess
CBRN impacts from an opposing military force, so planners
can coordinate logistics support to prepare for the threats.
“The planning process now is fairly non-analytical
and based on the subjective judgments of each service,” Stark
said. “The new tool will automate the planning process,
and offer modeling and simulation tools to improve analysis.
It will also drive a standardization of the planning process
among all branches of the armed forces.”
Jim Balentine, senior vice president in
charge of Cubic’s
Mission Support Business Unit, said the new JOEF software
development contract represents a first for Cubic – designing
and developing software applications used for military operations.
“In addition to possible program expansion, we expect
that this work will lead to additional opportunities,” Balentine
said.
In addition to military operations, the JOEF software could
eventually be used in computer-based simulations used for
training combat forces. Balentine noted that Cubic already
has considerable experience at planning and executing constructive
computer-based simulations used to prepare combat units for
an operational deployment, and is now adding software development
capabilities.
The Threat Technologies Division is part
of the Mission Support Business Unit of the Cubic Defense
Applications Group
(CDA), one of Cubic Corporation’s two major segments.
CDA is a world leader in realistic combat training systems,
mission support services and defense electronics. 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 website at www.cubic.com.