Cubic Awarded U.S. Marine Corps Next Generation Troposcatter System Production and Sustainment Contract
Cubic Mission Solutions and Comtech Systems partner for next generation Troposcatter contract
SAN DIEGO – Nov. 6, 2019 – Cubic Corporation (NYSE:CUB) today announced its Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS) business division was awarded a 10-year, $325 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Marine Corps to provide 172 Next Generation Troposcatter (NGT) systems. Cubic will partner with subcontractor Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDQ:CMTL) subsidiary, Comtech Systems, Inc. to manufacture and deliver the NGT systems as well as provide test support; logistics and training documentation; training execution; fielding support and sustainment.
Cubic’s GATR system is the industry leader in expeditionary inflatable antennas and Comtech Systems, Inc. is the world’s leader in NGT technology. Comtech has designed, installed and maintained more than 90% of the C-band/X-band troposcatter systems worldwide. Together, Cubic and Comtech offer the warfighter next generation troposcatter solution that increases bandwidth by an order of magnitude and reduces the size, weight and power (SWaP) by nearly 90 percent, making it the most mobile and highest throughput beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) system in the world.
“The ability to communicate in today’s congested and contested battlespace is critical to saving Marines’ lives and staying one step ahead of the enemy,” said Roark McDonald, vice president and general manager, GATR, Cubic Mission Solutions. “The NGT is one more tool now available to provide high-capacity and highly reliable communications.”
“Comtech continues its commitment to providing the most advance communications technology available anywhere in the world,” said Rich Luhrs, president, Comtech Systems, Inc. “The NGT team will provide the Marines with superior communications capability for its warfighters.”
Tropospheric scatter technology has been fielded for decades. It works by pointing two troposcatter systems at each other that can be separated by distances of more than 200 miles. Highly focused radio waves are pointed at the horizon. As the radio waves pass through the atmosphere (specifically the troposphere) some of these waves are reflected off particles and captured by the receiving antenna.
Advancements in modern electronics, signal processing and inflatable antenna technology allow Cubic and Comtech’s NGT system to provide the Marines resilient connectivity with more bandwidth and pack-out to go anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Delivery of the first units to the Marines is expected by the end of 2020.