Decision Support Technologies for Weapon System Logistics Investment Decisions

The proposed project offers a solution to an important problem faced by logistics planners in their endeavor to optimize defense spending. The problem is that the automation tools that are available to the logistics analyst are not integrated and therefore are cumbersome to run. For example, the Logistics Composite Model (LCOM), a primary tool used by planners, requires time consuming manual intervention to perform an analysis. It runs only in a batch mode, preventing analysts from interacting with a simulation. ORION will respond to this need by providing a modern, integrated logistics modeling environment allowing seamless LCOM executable, analysis of intermediate LCOM results, and integration with other products.. To develop a fully integrated LCOM, ORION will use our tested and validated software integration framework, Umbra, which we have co-developed with Sandia National Laboratories. Exploiting our previous experience in integrating other complex simulation models using Umbra, ORION will create a graphical user interface for operating a single executable created by the Umbra environment. This Umbra-LCOM integrated system will be demonstrated at the Air Force Research Laboratory using the F-16 data set. The demonstration will have supporting experimental data to show its preliminary validation.