Agent-Based Knowledge Enablers for the Unit of Action

Unlike the past, modern conflicts are increasingly regional and asymmetric. This has prompted the Army to transform to Future Combat Systems (FCS) via an Objective Force - responsive, deployable, agile, versatile, lethal, survivable and sustainable. Strategic Manuever is key to this force - the rapid projection of military power. Given the available airlift and sealift, this requires the Army to "trade ... steel for ... information:" the lethality and survivability of current platforms is replaced by integration where interoperability ensures component lethality and survivability. Key enablers supporting this shift are Information Dominance via Network Centric Warfare (NCW). However, NCW advantages are often negated by Information Overload - an inability to separate the useful information from the mass of available data. Evolving Army doctrine includes techniques to help mitigate this overload. Among them are the Commander's Critical Information Requirements (CCIR), defined by the Commander as a decision-making aid. Useful CCIR overcomes overload by identifying what is most mission-critical. In a NCW environment, aids implemented via software agents are desired for their mobility and potential for intelligent action. Technology Service Corporation (TSC) will apply mobile software agent technology to the generation of CCIR within the organizational structure of an objective force Unit of Action (UA).