Cubic to Install Sharklink System on Navy CVN Aircraft Carriers

Cubic Mission Solutions is set to produce communication data link system – technical refresh equipment for the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command under the terms of a five-year, $9M sole-source contract. For the purposes of the contract, Cubic will provide its Sharklink system, which will then be deployed by the Navy on two of its CVN aircraft carriers.  

According to Mike Twyman, president of Cubic Mission Solutions, the Sharklink system will enable the CVN aircraft carriers to establish communications with multiple manned and unmanned aircraft operating within a battlegroup, Cubic said.

Specifically, Sharklink can host up to eight simultaneous links owing to its flexible architecture.

In addition to enabling long-range high data rate communications among airborne and shipboard platforms, Sharklink also offers real-time imagery, full-motion video, audio and sensor data to support humanitarian relief operations and surface combat. Sharklink is also designed with a software defined radio architecture capable of supporting existing and future CDL waveforms from the Navy.

The CDLS-TR award serves as a follow-on to a previous development contract awarded to Cubic in 2017. The Sharklink systems provided under the previous contract are currently being installed on the USS Nimitz and USS Carl Vinson.

Twyman, who is also a member of the Potomac Officers Club and a 2020 Wash100 winner, acknowledged the recent award as a key contract win and expressed commitment to working with NAVWAR to field the system on the CVNs.

Besides integrating Sharklink on the CVN aircraft carriers, Cubic is also working on installing CDL equipment for the MQ-8C Fire Scout, MH-60S Knighthawk, MQ-25 Stingray, F-35 and the TacMobile portable systems.