The US Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines, joined by a number of contractors and representatives from academia, conducted a Joint Training Event (JTE) on the floor of the Orange County Convention Center during I/ITSEC 99. The JTE involved approximately 30 High Level Architecture (HLA) federates including virtual simulators, semiautomated forces (SAF), and HLA tools. To our knowledge this was the largest number of diverse HLA federates ever called upon to operate together. There was a significant amount of technical planning and preparation conducted by knowledgeable engineers prior to the event, to try to ensure its success. The event, conducted as a series of four 30-minute vignettes over three days, involved warfighters supervising training, warfighters being trained, plus technical operation of the simulators and simulations by a variety of contractors and government personnel. The JTE was managed to balance the dual objectives of pioneering technical achievements and warfighter training effectiveness. The event is considered to have been a significant success.

This paper conveys the experiences gained from the perspective of federation buildup and control. The story begins with a description of the complex federation we wanted to establish, the steps we took to try to accomplish it, and what we achieved. The federate test strategy we used is presented along with influencing factors, problems encountered and lessons learned. Establishment of the federation on the I/ITSEC floor and management of the federation execution are similarly presented.