Under development since 2008, Halo facilitates a high bandwidth, resilient, ad hoc multi-link mesh network using novel digital beamforming techniques. Credit: © Cubic Corporation/BusinessWire.

Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions (CMPS) has received a contract to develop a Halo-enabled Resilient Mesh (HERMes) system prototype for the US Air Force (USAF).

The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has been awarded as part of the USAF’s research and development (R&D) programme.

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As part of the new contract, the company will investigate, design, develop, evaluate and demonstrate the HERMes system prototype and its capabilities.

CMPS will also work on the expansion of the technological capabilities of the USAF’s high-capacity backbone (HCB) communication system.

This expansion work will include the development of a new hardware that can be used for the HCB system, increasing the operating frequencies and optimisation of systems code and algorithms.

The work also includes researching alternative capabilities that can support the expansion of the type and number of operational platforms.

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CMPS president Paul Shew said: “Cubic is committed to ensuring aerial networks produce a connectivity and user experience in the battlefield that mirrors what our warfighters experience in their everyday lives: high throughput, high availability and data when they need it.”

According to a US Department of Defense (DoD) announcement, the newly awarded contract has an estimated value of $8.85m and is slated to complete by February 2025.

All the associated work under this contract will be carried out in San Diego, California, US. The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is the contracting activity for this award.

This HCB-enabled gateway system was demonstrated by the company in 2022. It will deliver ‘foundational connectivity’ and ‘processing capabilities’ to support Joint All Domain Command-and-Control (JADC2) operations by providing the relevant data within the required time.

In August 2020, Cubic received a $38m contract to provide the Joint Aerial Layer Network HCB prototype for the USAF.

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