Cubic Corporation's (NYSE: CUB) Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS) business division was awarded a delivery order from the U.S. Air Force (USAF) for the development and demonstration of a Small Form Factor (SFF) Radio prototype for the Data Link Enterprise (DLE) — the system is composed of one ground and one air component for improved communications capability, providing ground-to-air and air-to-ground real-time communications.

Cubic’s state-of-the-art solution is a lightweight, airborne and ground radio system delivering SFF capability in the most compact tactical radio prototype. In addition to a number of standard waveforms, Cubic’s system will demonstrate an internally developed, protected waveform known as “Boomslang."

Cubic’s SFF technical approach focuses on an architecture maximizing functionality and performance while minimizing the system’s size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) for both the ground and airborne systems. Cubic’s offering is modular, scalable and affordable with plug and play, open standard interfaces meeting Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) requirements.

Mike Twyman, president, Cubic Mission Solutions, said the company's system design is based on proven and mature technologies which the firm has implemented for a number of successful Department of Defense programs and forward to leveraging this expertise to provide the lowest risk and most capable solution for the DLE.

James Parys, Program Director, Cubic Mission Solutions, noted that with decades of experience in developing systems for airborne and ground platforms, the company is able to deliver a cost-effective solution, leveraging enhanced off-the-shelf technologies to build a prototype that will be ready for fielding in future follow on efforts.