Cubic Corporation, SAN DIEGO, CA: Cubic Defense Applications, the defense segment of Cubic Corporation, has won a contract valued at over $10 million to develop a new air combat training system for the Royal Thai Air Force. Two Thai air bases will soon join a growing number of U.S. and international installations in the Asia-Pacific region that are using Cubic's “range-less” air combat training technology to polish the air combat maneuvering skills of military pilots.
Thailand's Air Chief Marshal Chalit Pukbhasuk, Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Air Force, assigned Air Vice Marshal Watana Claijumnong, Director of the Directorate of Electronics, to sign the direct-sale contract on behalf of the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) during a formal ceremony at Cubic's main campus in San Diego in late September. Cubic is under contract to deliver in March 2009 to two fighter wings at Korat and Takhli in Central Thailand.
The system's air and ground components use the same technology employed by U.S. Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) pilots at Misawa and Kadena air bases in Japan, and the Osan and Kunsan bases in South Korea. The Royal Australian Air Force at Williamtown, New South Wales, and another nation in the region have also recently acquired this same Cubic developed technology, commonly referred to as “KITS” after the first installation at Kadena.
“This sale makes it possible for various Pacific Rim nations to conduct joint instrumented training using state-of-the-art technology, since all these systems are interoperable,” remarked Philip J. Fisch, senior director of Business Development for Air Ranges for Cubic Defense Applications.
The new system consists of GPS-based instrumentation pods and ground systems. The system can monitor all maneuvers in real time and provide live feedback to pilots during training. The real-time monitor capabilities allow the training to be viewed at the bases. In addition, all the training exercise data is recorded for postmission debrief and analysis.
The ground systems feature Cubic's Individual Combat Aircrew Display System, or ICADS. ICADS allows pilots to monitor, control and debrief their training missions on standard PCs or laptop computers and includes many 2-D, 3-D and alphanumeric views of simulated battles.
Fisch noted that Cubic has a long history with Royal Thai Air Force, dating from the early 1980s when the Thai government purchased an early-generation combat training system. That system was in use at Korat from 1985 until 2000.
“Now Thailand will have its own instrumented air combat training system that it can use anywhere, anytime to give pilots that extra edge in training,” Fisch said.
Cubic Defense Applications (CDA) is 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.
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