Cubic Corporation Helping Upgrade F-35 Air Combat Training System

Cubic Corporation reports it is to produce and add enhancements to the air combat training system of F-35 Lightning II fighters.

The work on the F-35 ACTS comes under a series of contracts received from Lockheed Martin, the company said, but no details of their monetary value were disclosed.

Cubic said that with DRS Technologies -- the principal subcontractor for the work – it will produce additional Joint Strike Fighter P5 combat training systems to support production aircraft. Enhancements to the system will include an upgrade to make the ground subsystem compliant to Microsoft Windows 7 operating system and an upgrade of the encryption capability for the systems, which are carried within the aircraft instead of in wing-mounted pods like other aircraft.

The system allows the F-35 to maintain its stealth characteristics while training. It uses the same datalink as the system used by fourth-generation jets and other fighters and can receive and process information from them.

"We are very proud of our selection and continuing support to the fifth-generation community," said Dave Schmitz, president of Cubic Defense Applications. "This extends a solid record of delivering technology that enables a very sophisticated training environment. It also extends our long history dating back to fourth generation and previous aircraft."