In Norway, analysis of the Army structure has previously been done through traditional wargaming in combination with a variety of computer models covering parts of the spectrum from duel situations to the operational level. Through this method, the important combined arms effects are generally a model input based on military experts.

This paper describes recent work that has been done at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), where we have introduced interactive simulation as an additional tool for the Army structure analysis. Our objective has been to gain a better understanding of the often complex combined effects of different types of forces. Such forces include direct and indirect fire units, engineering resources, sensor units, C2, and naval and air force units. We have used the lightweight simulation platform MÅ�sbÄ“ from BreakAway as a tool for computer aided wargaming. This simulation platform supports brigade level operations where the participants act as military leaders With a user interface like a real-time strategy game, military experts have been directly involved in planning, gaming and post-evaluation.

Through a series of experiments we have been testing the performance of five fundamentally different land force structures in a set of chosen scenarios. The goal has been to rank these structures based on their performance. For each scenario we logged data and recorded video from the simulation, and the participants completed questionnaires about the performance of the tested Army structure. The experiments revealed pros and cons of the tested structures both on operational and tactical levels. Further, the data output from the simulation series has been fed into a quadratic Lanchester model. This has served both as means to validate results from the experiments, and as a model to search for an optimal Army structure.

Erlend Hoff

Affiliation

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Simulation in Support of Army Structure Analysis