Cubic Introduces Wireless Technology for Virtual Simulations

(January 30, 2008) -- The defense segment of Cubic Corporation (AMEX: CUB) has added an important new capability to its EST 2000 Engagement Skills Trainer, which is used by thousands of military personnel throughout the world to develop marksmanship, judgmental and collective training skills. Cubic has developed a tetherless M-4 training rifle that uses a wireless technology rather than computer cables to allow greater freedom of movement and more realism during tactical simulations.

Cubic's Simulation Systems Division in Orlando, Florida, delivered its first tetherless system last year to the Mississippi Air National Guard at the Combat Readiness Training Center in Gulfport. The division is under contract to deliver more tetherless M-4 rifles to the Wisconsin Air National Guard's Combat Readiness Training Center at Volk Field later this year. More than 1,000 EST 2000 systems are operational at Army and Air Force installations worldwide, including the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Korea, Germany, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq.


"There has been a growing demand for the soldier to train as they fight, and a tethered weapon can prevent movement, restricting motion in a collective mode," said Terry Fiest, director of Business Development for U.S. Army Programs for Cubic's Orlando division. "A tetherless weapon is more suited to tactical engagements and gives the soldier more latitude. We are finding that our customers like tethered weapons for marksmanship and they prefer tetherless for dismounted and offensive training scenarios."

The new simulator weapons have a CO2 driven recoil with 2.4GHz wireless connection. The electronics are battery powered and the recoil is provided by the CO2, which can be housed in either the ammunition magazine or in attachments to the simulated weapon. They can be used either with Cubic's Engagement Skills Trainer or its Warrior Skills Trainer, an enhancement to EST 2000 that enables soldiers to move around either on foot or in a moving vehicle in a simulation environment that replicates the weather conditions, convoy attacks and judgment issues that arise in certain combat situations.

Source : Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB)