Soldier equipped with Cubic’s laser-based MILES 2000 system during an exercise in Alberta, Canada.

Cubic Corp., the San Diego electronics company founded by Walter Zable in 1951 and grown in scope and size to more than 5,000 employees worldwide, expects to get a piece of the Joint Strike Fighter program. “One of our systems is earmarked to go on the F-35,” says Gerald Dinkel, a vice president of the company and president and CEO of its defense business unit here. “It’s an emerging opportunity for us.” He’s talking about Cubic’s P5 Combat Training System, which provides real-time air-to-air, air-to-ground and surface-to-air combat training for Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force pilots in a nonhostile environment. The system includes aircraft-mounted instrument packages and ground stations. Cubic and its principal subcontractor, DRS Technologies, hold a $525 million contract to deliver the system.

Cubic Defense Applications, which employs 754 people in San Diego, provides a variety of systems and products for the armed forces. It also develops electronic products for avionics, communications, intelligence and air traffic control applications. Dinkel expects to attract more defense dollars. “The proposed defense budget has more potential to help than hurt us,” he says. “Half of our business is with the Army and the Army is getting an increased emphasis. The things we’re doing are well matched with what the Defense Department is laying out.” Zable, incidentally, still comes to work each day. He turns 90 this year.