A Method for Evaluating Advanced Systems and Concepts for Ground Combat.

摘要

The detailed evaluation of proposals for improved ground-combat systems or concepts can assist defense planners and system designers in understanding the systems' capabilities and limitations before major funding commitments are made. If the proposed systems and concepts do not differ markedly from current ones, standard evaluation techniques such as wargaming or systems analysis are appropriate. Special methods are likely to be necessary, however, for advanced concepts and systems that may dictate innovations in how a unit or force is organized, how it will operate, and the tactics it will employ. This report describes one such method. It can be used to illuminate the interrelationships between a system's technological characteristics and its tactical employment. The method described here uses a three-dimensional 'terrain table,' a computer program, and a series of analytic modules developed for a hand calculator. With these tools, a detailed minute-by-minute play is conducted. This permits innovative decisions to be introduced, friendly and enemy actions to be examined in detail, and tactical-technological interactions of the systems to be clearly understood.