UBC Inc.

As global tensions rise and defense budgets hit record highs, militaries are shifting focus from firepower to foresight. As Gen. Watson of the U.S. Marines warned recently, defenders must be “relevant when the conflict arises,” or it will be too late.

Achieving that level of combat readiness requires training technology that can accurately replicate enemy tactics to keep trainees on their toes. Here, precision radar-simulating antennas—like those engineered by UBC Inc—become mission-critical.

Founded in 1980 by Pat and Rebecca Crane, this Florida-based, Hispanic-woman-owned company has become an indispensable supplier for the U.S. military, preparing warfighters to detect, respond to and outmaneuver today’s increasingly sophisticated threats.

UBC’s signature innovation is its Cassegrain twist reflector antenna, a highly agile, lightweight system that allows for wide-angle scanning at extremely high speeds.

“Our solution allows us to provide a scanning antenna without some of the cumbersome and expensive electromagnetic pieces like a rotary joint that would go along with a standard Cassegrain antenna,” says Charles Sleeper, president and CEO.

In fact, very few companies around the world have mastered the technology behind UBC’s Cassegrain twist reflector antenna. The system features a Cassegrain reflector at the antenna’s front, which reflects the transmitted electromagnetic waveform onto a specially designed twist plate. This plate induces a phase shift that aligns, or co-polarizes, the signal with the main reflector, enabling efficient transmission into free space.
Its innovative design achieves beam steering solely by adjusting the lightweight twist plate. The plate’s low inertia helps the system scan rapidly and with high positional accuracy without relying on heavier, slower mechanical components. UBC’s antennas can now deliver fast, precise performance that is ideal for simulating complex radar threats in dynamic environments.

These antennas also address key challenges in radar threat simulation, maximizing time-on-target and integrating tracking technology. This enables accurate signal replication across frequencies, even from moving drones, ensuring receiver systems can reliably detect and interpret simulated threats during electronic warfare training.

Such capabilities have made UBC a trusted supplier to the U.S. Department of Defense. Its antennas have been used on legacy target drones like the QF-4, as well as on naval platforms including the BQM-74 and BQM-34, all of which play essential roles in weapons testing and pilot readiness programs. UBC carefully balances performance with cost—engineering antennas that are both highly threat-representative and reasonably priced. This combination makes UBC’s solutions especially well-suited for large-scale, repeatable training scenarios where realism and affordability are equally critical.

Recently, UBC has collaborated with the University of Oklahoma on a radar system designed as a GPS backup system for the U.S. Navy. The company also holds an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with the Navy for nine variants of its antennas, ensuring a stable pipeline of government work for years to come.

Despite the technical complexity, the heart of UBC’s value lies in its human-centric approach. Over the years, the company has avoided the typical growth-at-all-costs model, instead choosing to focus on enduring excellence in a specialized, high-stakes domain. It still operates as a lean, focused operation with nine to ten employees generating three to four million dollars in annual revenue. The company prides itself on exceptionally low turnover, with some employees having worked there for nearly 30 years—longer than Mr. Sleeper’s own tenure of 20 years.

The team is already planning a new product cycle to build the next generation of antennas that will meet emerging defense requirements over the coming decade. As long as pilots need to practice against the radar emissions of tomorrow’s enemies, UBC’s twist-reflector devices will keep turning.