Huntsville, Ala. (Oct. 29, 2019) - The future of modeling and simulation is in live, virtual and constructive simulation if the Army wants to fight and win the nation's wars in multi-domain operations.
Dr. James Kirsch, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center's Systems Simulation, Software and Integration Directorate director, spoke at the 2019 AlaSim Conference in Huntsville Oct. 24, on the topic, "You're Not Alone on the Battlefield: Assessing Multi-Domain Operations Using Live, Virtual and Constructive Simulations." Kirsch briefed attendees on the ways modeling and simulation benefits the Army and Warfighter today, as well as its importance in the future.
"The way we operate is changing, and so on the technology side we have to change with it and do things in a different way," Kirsch said. "Modeling and simulation is going to be how we enable the Army to do that, and how we enable the Army to play different capabilities, new capabilities, new ideas or maybe just combinations of things we haven't tried before."
CCDC AvMC's S3I utilizes a number of high fidelity simulations for a variety of different weapons systems that can predict the performance of individual systems and allow for necessary adjustments at a lower cost to the Army.
"It's really been a great benefit to the Army, because we have saved literally hundreds of millions of dollars," Kirsch said. "Because we have this modeling and sim capability and hardware-in-the-loop capability, we're not going out and shooting missiles until we're pretty confident on the test range that those missiles are going to perform the way we expect them to. We find a lot of problems in the model and sim or in the hardware-in-the-loop before we ever take our first step on the test range, and then we take steps on the test range between shots that help us back up and confirm those simulations."
Kirsch noted the need for integrated live, virtual and constructive simulations, which would give users the ability to play systems together as well as to play pieces of systems together. The end result would influence how the Department of Defense invests in science and technology, as well as provide tools to combatant commanders to use in their experimentation.
"This live virtual simulation gives us the ability to actually influence on the point of the spear, because these guys are trying to solve real-world problems with the forces they have available and the capabilities they have available," Kirsch said.
The AlaSim Conference, organized by the Alabama Modeling and Simulation Council, covered topics in both military and health care simulation and modeling. The purpose of the annual conference is to provide attendees with an opportunity for continuing education and to present papers, and to share what they've learned over the past year.
"The main thing is knowledge - to share knowledge with other people, to give knowledge and what you've learned, but then also to receive that knowledge back. It's also important to make connections with your peers and other people," said John Hughes, president of AMSC.
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The CCDC Aviation & Missile Center, formerly known as the Aviation & Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, which conducts responsive research, development and life cycle engineering to deliver the aviation and missile capabilities the Army depends on to ensure victory on the battlefield today and tomorrow. Through collaboration across the command's core technical competencies, CCDC leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more lethal to win our nation's wars and come home safely. CCDC is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command.
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