With the introduction of the Contemporary Operating Environment (COE) Opposing Force (OPFOR), as reflected in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, into the OneSAF system a different and lethal set of tactics, forces and equipment has been developed to represent the current ground truth faced by the Armed Forces of the United States and its allies. The COE OPFOR comprises the collective set of organizations (combatant, noncombatant, corporate, nongovernment, government and international) existing in and acting on the environment in the Blue Force (BLUFOR) area of operations as representative of current military operations. They can be categorized as conventional forces (Regular Armed Forces) or irregular forces (Paramilitary, Guerrilla, Terrorist, Militia, and Combatant and Noncombatant Civilians on the Battlefield). A critical component for the accurate portrayal of these organizations in the OneSAF is the representation of the command and control means by which the components of the COE OPFOR will synchronize and direct their activities. The COE OPFOR will use components of the Civilian Information Infrastructure (CII) as a principal or alternate Battle Command System and Information Operations mechanism. These CII means are collectively termed Alternative Communications Means (ACM) as they represent a departure from the use of combat net radios for battle command system use. Irregular COE OPFOR forces will use ACM as both their primary battle command system and information operations mechanism. Conventional COE OPFOR forces will use ACM; as a parallel battle command system and as the primary information operations mechanism since they anticipate their tactical communications will be disrupted or destroyed over time and know BLUFOR is reluctant to disrupt the CII. This paper describes the identification and decomposition of these ACM, the description of their performance, how they can be used by the COE OPFOR and how they can be integrated into the OneSAF, and other simulations.
Developing Contemporary Operating Environment Opposing Force Alternative Communications Means
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