Fire Support Suppression Effects in Battlefield Simulation

Combat outcomes are generated by two principle effects: attrition and suppression, where attrition is th ephysical destruction of personnel and materiel and suppression is the degradation of combat effectiveness through the non-lethal effects of firepower upon personnel. Historical analysis has shown that the effects of suppression are at least as (and quite possibly more) significant as the effects of attrition, yet none of the combat modesl commonly used by the US Army accuratley reflects suppression effects. As a result, the combat outcomes generated by these modesl are grossly distorted in favor of attrition. This phase I SBIR will attempt to measure and accurately model the effects of attrition using the Tactical Numerical Deterministic Model (TNDM) an historically validated combat model, to evaluate two sets of battles for which detailed informatio is available. The first set consisting of "normal" battles, will be used as a baseline to identify the relationships between suppression and attrition. the second set will consist of battles in which massive firepower was used deliverately for suppression, to determine the relationships between firepoer and suppression effects. In Phase II, the offeror will refine the suppressin coefficients identified in Phase I and apply them to existing Army combat models.