US Navy Contracts Cubic Corp and Austal Shipbuilding to Create an LCS “Holodeck”

With a US Navy that is being stretched to, and in some cases, beyond its breaking point, keeping sailors at home while maximizing in-port training opportunities is vital to mission accomplishment, quality of life, and cost efficiency.

In the past, at-sea training was really the only way to truly prepare for deployment, but truthfully, 6+ months of training, followed by a 9 to 12 month deployment, can fully wreak havoc to morale and personnel retainment.  Not only that, but ships such as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), will soon be forward-based to Singapore, presenting an unavoidable hurdle when it comes to crew training.

Groundbreaking technology by San Diego-based Cubic Corporation, in partnership with Austal Shipbuilding, will help to mitigate these issues through high-end, digital simulation training specifically tailored to the LCS program.

Imagine working your way around a digital mock-up of your ship, conducting operations, and interacting with digital avatars of your actual shipmates.

It’s not quite the holodeck from Star Trek unfortunately, but it’s at least the 21st century version, and a system that has been used successfully in land and air warfare training simulations.

Three US Navy contracts were awarded today to Cubic, each worth up to USD $99.5 million to facilitate collaboration with Austal on prospective LCS crew training opportunities.

To get an idea of the training systems developed by Cubic in other military sectors, please see the following video.

Updated: January 18, 2024 (Originally published January 29, 2013)

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