Debrief and After-Action Review Technologies for Electronic Warfare Simulation and Training

ABSTRACT: Recent combat operations have not required significant traditional Electronic Warfare (EW) operations. This, coupled with the rapidly developing capabilities of some advanced threats, could leave our forces with atrophied EW skills - underprepared to achieve our national objectives. A quick review of many of our nation"s contingency operational plans demonstrates Electronic Warfare will be a critical aspect of potential future conflicts. EW training is crucial to military operations and the EW debrief is one of the most effective means to evaluate the effectiveness of our training. Current EW debrief tools often fall short in accuracy, completeness, applicability and most importantly, availability. While there are opportunities to asses actual employment results, much of the EW assessment from an exercise is a mix of data analysis and conjecture. Modeling and simulation offers a much more quantitative assessment of EW employment. This research will provide a systematic approach to answering a wide array of questions about EW effects while capitalizing on the valuable lessons learned and retaining known mechanisms from familiar and proven EW assessments. This research will evaluate data collection, analysis, and presentation methods to develop next generation capabilities to further EW expertise. BENEFIT: The pervasive need for effective EW debrief and after-action review tools has persistently existed throughout the DoD for many years. This research will provide a blueprint for advanced EW After Action Review which will offer the warfighter an unprecedented debrief capability that spans the realm of simulated to live EW employment. Throughout the world, where our forces do not have the opportunity to effectively evaluate EW training against advanced threat systems, this research will provide invaluable insight to develop capabilities to overcome shortfalls EW training. The results of this research will be applicable anywhere EW instruction takes place, whether in the U.S., Asia or Europe.