SMDC teams earns award

By Carrie E. David (SMDC/ARSTRAT)December 15, 2015

Tactical Analysis team
David Silvernail, Cyberspace Operations study Tactical Analysis team lead, and David Kohlhoff, operations research analyst, led a team that received one of seven crystal globes in the Modeling and Simulation Award in the analysis category. Silvernail... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama -- With an increasing focus on cyberspace as the next operational battlefront, one U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command team was acknowledged for its work helping the Army understand the effects of cyberspace operations.

SMDC/ARSTRAT's Tactical Analysis Team was selected Nov. 25 for the fiscal year 2015 Army Modeling and Simulation Award in the Analysis category. The selection board evaluated 54 nominations in the theme "Best applications of Army models and simulations in an era of fiscal austerity and rapid innovation." SMDC's team is receiving one of seven team crystal globe awards.

"I am pleasantly surprised and very humbled that my team was selected for this award," said David Silvernail, Future Warfare Center Tactical Analysis team lead. The team comprised Silvernail, David Kohlhoff, FWC Operations research analyst; Eric Berry, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, G-2; and contractor support from Science Applications International Corporation.

The team performed a Cyberspace Operations study for U.S. Army Cyber Command that provided key insights for consideration in the use of cyberspace operations for the Army and the joint community.

"The study will facilitate how the Army will account for cyberspace operations in the modeling and simulation realm," Silvernail said. "The team had to be innovative and creative to solve some of the problems we encountered while answering Army cyber study questions."

The Cyberspace Operations study leveraged all the modeling effects and insights from the lessons learned during prior studies. Using effects-based modeling combined with an agent-based modeling approach, the team was able to simulate a wide range of cyber effects across the full spectrum of cyberspace operations.

"I am very proud of this team," Silvernail said. "They spent a lot of time and hard work taking on a topic that is very challenging and difficult to understand. Their efforts have allowed the Army to better understand the cyberspace domain and how to integrate future cyberspace capabilities in support of the ground Warfighter."

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