OPERATIONAL AIR COMMAND SIMULATION TECHNOLOGIES: ATAF/TACC PLANNING AND OPERATIONS GAME

THERE IS A NEED FOR TECHNOLOGIES TO DEVELOP EASY-TO-USE SIMULATION GAMES WITH WHICH HIGHAND INTERMEDIATE-ECHELON TACTICAL AIR COMMANDERS AND THEIR STAFFS CAN DEVELOP INSIGHTS AND UNDERSTANDING OF CAMPAIGN DYNAMICS AND DECISION PROBLEMS. MOREOVER, THERE IS A NEED FOR TECHNOLOGIES TO EVALUATE THE BENEFIT FROM SUCH GAMES. THESE TECHNOLOGIES CAN BE DEVELOPED BY COMBINING TECHNIQUES FROM THE COMMERCIAL WARGAMING INDUSTRY WITH ANALYTIC COMBAT MODELS. TECHNOLOGIES WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR THE PROPER CHOICE OF SIMULATION DETAIL (FIDELITY), FOR STRUCTURING THE EDUCATION PRODUCT TO BE USED TO REALIZE GRADUATED LEARNING OBJECTIVES, FOR ENSURING THAT THE PARTICIPANT LEARNS BROADLY APPLICABLE WAR-FIGHTING LESSONS, AND FOR EVALUATING A SIMULATION GAME'S EDUCATIONAL BENEFIT. IN PHASE I, WE WILL DEVELOP AND DOCUMENT THE CRITICAL DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES, AND DESIGN THE BASIC FRAMEWORK OF A GAME FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION. WE WILL ALSO DEVELOP A PLAN TO DEMONSTRATE METHODS OF EVALUATING THE TRAINING BENEFIT FROM SUCH A GAME. IN PHASE II A WORKING DEMONSTRATION GAME, RUNNING ON A PC, WILL BE IMPLEMENTED. IT WILL BE USED TO DEMONSTRATE THE METHOD OF EVALUATING TRAINING BENEFITS THROUGH EXPERIMENT, AS WELL AS TO DEMONSTRATE THE EFFICACY OF THE DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES.