CUBEDIN has a legacy that traces back to the Stanflex concept developed by the Royal Danish Navy (RDN). The Stanflex concept was first introduced with the Flyvefisken class. With the Flyvefisken class the RDN received 14 standard platforms, each with 4 positions for Stanflex containers. The RDN invested in more than 100 Stanflex containers of eleven different types containing various weapon systems. The size of the Stanflex container (3.5m*3.0*2.5m) was determined by the largest weapon to be containerised – the Oto Melara 76mm gun.

In 2005 the Holm Class was designed (2005 – 2008) with one Stanflex container position and a further two for drones in the RDN Mine Counter Measures concept.

In 2005 the Diana Class patrol vessels were designed (2005 – 2009) with one Stanflex position mainly for the less complex types of Stanflex containers.

In 2005 the Absalon class frigate was designed for the Royal Danish Navy and the Stanflex system continued as part of the ship design. These consisted of Stanflex SSM Harpoon launchers with 8 missiles, and SAM: Mk56 launchers with 12 ESSM missiles each. Despite the reuse of Stanflex weapon modules the new class did further the concept. The Absalon class was designed by engineers who specialised in container ships. This showed that in the Absalon class, a large flex deck could accommodate more than 50 TEU containers. These were loaded from a large stern ramp in the back. At sea there was only access to the sea through this ramp, and none from the side. In the longitudinal bulkheads the ISO container could access power, water, data etc. The Absalon class also introduced the ISO container standard and standard twist locks on a closed-in weapon position for a 35 mm gun that was mounted directly onto the deck.

Iver Huitfeldt – commissioned in 2012 was a further development of the Absalon class and remained loyal to the Stanflex concept. Instead of loading the ISO containers from the stern the module containers loaded through a hatch in the helicopter deck.

OMT wrote a paper in the SNAME about the Danish experiences with flexible warships. In this paper OMT suggest abandoning the odd size Stanflex dimension and instead suggested the standardisation of the ISO container dimensions of container ships. The original Stanflex dimension was wider than an ISO container. In other words, the 76mm Oto Melara gun could not fit in the 10” or 20” container - it would be too big. To accommodate this, OMT proposed the use of the ‘stacking concept’. The Oto Melare gun would need to be fitted within 2x 20’ containers (TEU). Backward compatibility should be managed with the interface adapter kits. The key was to keep modules with the volume of x number of standard containers.

OMT began to market the concept as Stanflex 2.0 and started developing ship platforms based on Stanflex. The first product was new environmental ships for Denmark. In this design, containers are loaded from stern or top down through hatches and then moved to the right internal position on the flex deck. OMT also started working on a concept where modules can add resources to the ships (by providing extra energy from a battery).

OMT realised that the “free seating” principle on the ships had to be abandoned as it was not enough to develop a standard power interface. A new type of software that controls the configuration of module on a ship was needed. The software should also control the communication between modules and the internal systems on the ship. OMT started to look for software partners.

SH Defence developed a loader to allow modules to be loaded from the ship’s side. This is a novel idea that makes it possible to launch modules from the quay and allows the content in the modules to access the sea while in operation. SH also introduces automatic twist locks to fix the containers without human intervention. On top of this SH Defence suggested marketing the modules – also based on standard ISO dimensions as in Stanflex2.0 - as “The Cube”. Despite the fact that the ISO containers are not really cubes as defined by mathematicians it is a good name - much better than Stanflex 2.0.

OMT and SH Defence are connected through memberships of Naval Team Denmark. Instead of developing two different concepts SH Defence and OMT decided to work together. It is agreed that SH defence should be module eccentric and focus on getting content into the Cubes and develop the loader. OMT on the hand should be ship centric and further develop the interface connections. As part of the branding and market strategy it was agreed that OMT should abandon the Stanflex 2.0 branding and instead start to market the interface concept as CUBEDIN.

OMT finally identified the right software partner for CUBEDIN. OMT and Systematic joined forces to develop the concept. CUBEDIN A/S - 50/50 owned - is a separate entity with its own management team and own board.