MILITARY AIRLIFT COMMAND (MAC) COMMAND, CONTROL, AND COMMUNICATIONS (C3) SYSTEM ASSESMENT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING ADVANCED PETRI NET TECHNOLOGY TO ANALYZE THE PERFORMANCE OF LARGE-SCALE C3 SYSTEMS. THE US AIR FORCE IS UNDERGOING A MAJOR RESTRUCTUTING OF ITS FORCES IN RESPONSE TO THE CHANGING GLOBAL SITUATION AND THE RESULTING SHIFT IN DEFENSE NEEDS AND PRIORITIES. THIS REORIENTATION WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON AIR FORCE MISSIONS, CONCEPTS OF OPERATIONS, AND ON THE C3 SYSTEMS WHICH SUPPORT THEM. AIR FORCE C3 SYSTEMS PLANNERS NEED A TOOL THAT CAN ESTIMATE C3 SYSTEM PERFORMACNE IN TERMS OF THEIR IMPACT ON MISSION EFFECTIVENESS AND WARFIGHTING CAPABILITY. ALPHATECH HAS DEVELOPED AN INTERACTIVE, GRAPHICAL SIMULATION TOOL CALLED MODELER, SPECIFICALLY FOR QUANTITATIVE C3 SYSTEM PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS. MODELER USES ADVANCED PETRI NET MODELS OF COMMUNCICATIONS, COMPUTERS, AND CONCEPTS OF OPERATION TO ESTIMATE THE IMPACT OF THE ALTERNATIVES ON MISSION EFFECTIVENESS AND OPERATOR WORKLOAD. ALPHATECH PROPOSES USING MODELER TO PROVIDE A QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF THE C3 SYSTEMS SUPPORTING THE MILITARY AIRLIFT COMMAND (MAC). IN PHASE I, WE WILL MODEL, SIMULATE, AND ASSESS THE PERFORMACE OF C3 SYSTEMS SUPPORTING WING-LEVEL MAC OPERATIONS. IN PHASE II, WE WILL DEVELOP A FULL-SCALE MODEL OF MAC C3 OPERATIONS FORM THE WING-LEVEL THROUGH THE NAFS TO HQ MAC.