[SIGCIS-Members] SIMNET past and future

[Dave Foster]

Thank you, Dr. Coopersmith.

As the article notes, mil sims have had varied success. Larger scale
efforts generally being less useful. The best effort in my experience
was a high value targeting cell simulation that SAIC in McLean had put
together 15-20 years ago, back when mobile missile launchers, WMD
sites, and Osama bin Laden (etc) were the rage. Their lash up was a
combo of systems sims, a simplified targeting/combined air ops center
(CAOC), and human players with operational experience a la a wargame.
The main drill to seek accelerators/simplifiers for the targeting
cycle (was then FFTTEA, probably has evolved since). We routinely
built engagement and mission scenario M&S to inform investment
decisions (make, buy, upgrade, etc) at the Naval Air Systems Command's
Warfare Analysis group but these were not for training but for
plausible systems and operations effectiveness assessments. 6DOF
physics models are rarely needed for most of an entity's movements, so
some computing power can be saved there, but it is critical to not
skimp on the environmentals - atmospheric, terrain, RF propagation,
and systems reliability. Even if these environmentals are credible,
simulating the heat, stress, and confusion of the battlespace may be a
challenge. Good sims need to incorporate signal noise and systems
failures.

That said, while I applaud initiatives to improve training and
preparedness, I have never bought into Adm. Owens' apocryphal "lifting
the fog of war" and the premise of network centric warfare - the
military IoT will be more of a vulnerability than an advantage as time
goes on. In the infospace, adversaries do not need a sophisticated
industrial base - millions of IT smart people around the world to mess
with our powerpoint engineering concepts. Thinning, perhaps, in some
regards, but not "lifting." Those 90s IT-centric ideas are alive and
well in DoD - OV-1 charts laden with lighting bolts remain common.

One new sim we do need is for the offense and defense sides of
long-range guided missile salvos, particularly at sea.

Regards,

Dave Foster
davidfos at usc.edu
806-282-4856, linkedin.com/in/david-w-foster


Dave Foster
Graduate
USC | Marshall School of Business
davidfos at usc.edu
806-282-4856, linkedin.com/in/david-w-foster

On Thu, Dec 3, 2020 at 10:33 AM Jonathan Coopersmith
<j-coopersmith at tamu.edu> wrote:
>
>  Fascinating area of desired research:
>   https://warontherocks.com/2020/12/the-next-simnet-unlocking-the-future-of-military-readiness-through-synthetic-environments
>
> Stay sane, keep washing those hands, and practice social solidarity as well as physical distancing,
>
> Jonathan
>
> Jonathan Coopersmith
> Professor
> Department of History
> Texas A&M University
> College Station, TX  77843-4236
> 979.291.2925 (cell)
> 979.862.4314 (fax)
>
> Engineering elections:  https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/security/engineering-principles-us-election
>
> Racial disparities in waiting to vote:  https://theconversation.com/it-takes-a-long-time-to-vote-141267
>
> FAXED.  The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine (Johns Hopkins University Press)
>
>
>
>
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