US Army seeks real-time modelling for battlefield C2

Soldiers assigned to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, conduct area reconnaissance using a UAS drone at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (US Army)

The US Army is looking to develop a new suite of modelling tools designed to allow combat commanders the ability to collect, consolidate, and process real-time battlefield data and distil that information into viable courses of action (COAs) quickly.

Officials from Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Network (PEO C3N), in conjunction with Army Futures Command (AFC), are soliciting industry input for prototype development for the new suite of Operational Modeling Tools (OMTs), according to a 25 April broad agency announcement (BAA).

“These [OMT] tools must employ advanced, data-centric methods capable of efficiently consuming and producing actionable information. Solutions should integrate top-down strategic and bottom-up tactical data streams to deliver intuitive visual and auditory alerts, ensuring real-time and near-realtime situational awareness,” service officials said in the BAA.

Regarding the COAs produced out of the OMT suite of tools, service programme officials have defined three key criteria the tools should provide combat commanders.

First, the OMT algorithms used to assist in COA development should have an integrated “transparent analytic capability” to confirm the algorithm validity, according to the BAA. Second, the OMT suite should have a “comprehensive logging” requirement for all validation metrics used to develop COAs. Finally, these validation metrics must be paired with a slate of “clearly communicated confidence intervals” for all COAs developed via the OMTs, the solicitation stated.

With regard to the OMTs, they are expected to provide combat commanders with “a reliable and quantifiable operational forecast, enhancing their ability to anticipate threats, dynamically adapt, and effectively manage current and future missions”, army officials said in the BAA.