Military Training: Cost-Effective Development of Simulations Presents SignificantChallenges

摘要

Since 1988, the Department of Defense (DOD) has been grappling with how toprovide simulations that realistically portray joint warfare operations for training. To help meet this training need, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency developed the Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP). The ALSP technique provides a means for multiple service and agency models to communicate with each other. Although ALSP is a technological achievement, the existing warfare capabilities of the individual models is limited, and therefore, the problem of providing a valid joint training environment remains. Overcoming these limitations would require extensive improvements to the ALSP Confederation. Because of these limitations and the cost and complexity of the ALSP Confederation, the military services; the Joint Staff; and the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Director, Defense Research and Engineering, initiated the development of a comprehensive system that would take the place of the ALSP Confederation. The new system-the Joint Simulation System (JSIMS)-is scheduled to reach initial operational capability by 1999 and full operational capability by 2003. Until JSIMS is operational, DOD plans to continue making improvements to the ALSP Confederation. Because DOD has repeatedly acknowledged a need to improve joint training through cost-effective simulations, we initiated a review to determine whether (1) DOD is progressing with its development of JSIMS and (2) DOD'S decisions to improve the ALSP Confederation are cost-effective.