Effects-Based Operations (EBO) is a mindset, a philosophy and an approach for planning, executing and assessing military operations for the effects they produce rather than the targets or even objectives they deal with. An EBO approach strives to provide economy of force, dynamic tasking, and reduced collateral damage. The notion of EBO is not new. Military Commanders certainly have desired effects in mind when conducting military operations. However, to date EBO has been an art of war that lacks automated techniques and tools that enable effects-based analysis and assessment. Modeling and simulation is at the heart of this challenge. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) EBO Program is developing modeling techniques and corresponding tool capabilities that can be brought to bear against the challenges presented by effects-based analysis and assessment. Effects-based course-of-action development, center of gravity/target system analysis, and wargaming capabilities are being developed and integrated to help give Commanders the information decision support required to achieve desired national security objectives. This paper presents an introduction to effects-based operations, discusses the benefits of an EBO approach, and focuses on modeling and analysis for effects-based strategy development. An overview of modeling and simulation challenges for EBO is presented, setting the stage for the detailed technical papers in the subject session.
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