Advanced Combat Simulation for More Effective Anti-Terrorist Operations

Current computer combat simulation software offers a sophisticated and high fidelity platform in terms of modeling and accurate results. However, the development of games/simulations that portray insurgent asymmetric warfare has lagged due to the difficulties in interpreting and managing the complexity and variety of these types of situations as well as the relative historical lack of interest in these scenarios. At the same time, however, the general world state of affairs has changed so that these types of situations are becoming more frequent that ever. And this trend that will likely increase as information technology allows for the recruitment and control of hostile elements, and high-tech weapons become easier to acquire. This project will address two primary areas of improvement necessary to model these actions with existing wargame software. The first is to model the effects of the weapons and hostile forces themselves, including their command and control capabilities, tactics, ability to inflict damage from a distance, and range of improvised weapons. The second is to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) capable of both acting on behalf of a non-standard force, as well as being able to counter the actions of one in command of a conventional power.