News from USJFCOM: Tour highlights advances in modeling and simulation

Modeling and Simulations Tour highlights advances in modeling and simulation

As the modeling and simulation field continues to develop, U.S. Joint Forces Command works with its partners to harness this technology and share the command's work in this field with a group of reporters.

By Jennifer Colaizzi
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. - November 8, 2005) -- Harnessing and applying a constantly changing field like modeling and simulation to help revolutionize joint warfighting requires a constant collaborative effort between the command leading the transformation of the U.S. military and its various academic, business, alliance and interagency partners.

That was the message delivered at U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) during the second day of a Virginia Economic Development Partnership Modeling and Simulation Awareness Tour organized for members of the media to have an up-close and personal introduction to the various M&S elements and players in Virginia and the Hampton Roads area, in general.

According to command officials, the event, like many recent M&S events, was an opportunity to showcase the command, its partners, and advances in M&S that have occurred in Hampton Roads.

During the tour, command officials said USJFCOM will participate in two important upcoming events, which will incorporate new and emerging M&S systems including: the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Fla., in December, and Multinational Experiment 4 (MNE4), to be held at USJFCOM's Suffolk facilities and at sites around the world in early 2006.

I/ITSEC provides a venue for the command to show the need for both live and M&S capabilities in conducting training, experimentation, mission rehearsal, and current operations.

In a world of tight budgets and schedules, M&S provides timely, safe, and innovative solutions to military training challenges, according to Air Force Col. Dan Henkel, USJFCOM's deputy joint force trainer, capabilities.

Henkel and Marine Corps Lt. Col. Rickey Grabowski, deputy director of advanced training technologies (ATT) at USJFCOM echoed the same message: M&S provides a "realistic training environment for joint warfighters."

"By integrating live, virtual, and constructive (L-V-C) forces into a single synthetic battespace, it enables us to do joint training at a fraction of the cost with a fraction of the risk," said Grabowski.

According to Marine Corps Col. Chris Conlin, deputy director of USJFCOM's Joint Experimentation Directorate, during the MNE4 experiment participants will use M&S to bring together economic, diplomatic, and culturally sensitive information to provide unified strategic solutions to current and future national threats and challenges.

Additionally, in MNE4, we will be "harvesting the best capabilities" from the other nine participating countries.

According to Jones Hooks, president and chief executive office of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, "Hampton Roads continues to experience the economic shot-in-the-arm of modeling and simulation as a result of the Joint Forces Command. Hampton Roads currently has approximately 4,000 jobs and nearly half a billion dollars of direct impact from defense related modeling and simulation."

"The 2009 projections approach nearly $1 billion in direct spending while producing nearly 16,000 defense related M&S jobs. The end-result result is not only an increase in direct jobs and spending, but the creation of educational support programs," said Hooks. "These kinds of activities benefit the community as a whole, allowing these skills and services to become available to a wide variety of companies and people alike."

Other locations the media visited during the three-day tour included: National Center for Collaboration in Medical Modeling Simulation, Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation, George Washington University Virginia Campus, and Valador - a small M&S company in Herndon, Va.

"The media tour was an excellent opportunity to create greater awareness of the modeling and simulation efforts in Virginia and showcase the region and organizations that are making the industry a success," said Christie Collins, of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.