Advanced Future Fires and Effect Component Technology

The aim of this project is to research, develop, and validate Advanced Future Fires and Effects Component Technology (AFFECT), a system focused on significant improvement of network-centric fires management, control and execution. The proposed system would provide foundational components for the development of network fires management software. These components will provide mechanisms for resolving the complex problems involved in dynamic weapon-target pairing, route/mission planning, dynamic retargeting and dynamic de-confliction. The system would ultimately facilitate robust and efficient components for enhancing the execution of Future Combat System (FCS) fires which will greatly enhance its ability to maintain superior fires while retaining flexibility and mobility. The Phase I effort will (i) establish AFFECT specifications, hardware, and software architecture, (iii) investigate technologies used by AFFECT, and (iv) develop prototype software built on AFFECT. Key innovations include: (i) our methodologies for modeling a constraints-based environment, (ii) our strategy for generating fast and optimal solutions using genetic algorithms; and (iii) combining these for constraints-based planning and scheduling. We shall utilize years of experience in component architectures to encapsulate these innovations in a manner which is conducive to rapid reuse; and scalable and evolvable enough to meet the challenges necessitated by future network-centric fires management.