Empirically-driven Analysis for Model-driven Experimentation: From Lab to Sea and Back Again (Part 1)

Abstract : The Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) is a versatile military organization, designed to effectively handle missions as diverse as air warfare, tactical ballistic missile defense, and maritime interdiction operations. Over the past several years, ESG organizations have allocated command responsibilities in several ways, each permutation affecting organizational dynamics. The Adaptive Architectures for Command and Control (A2C2) program has been using model-based experimentation to investigate the congruence of organizational structure with mission requirements. The ESG provides an opportunity to apply the principles developed in previous A2C2 research to a rapidly evolving operational organization. Relevant doctrine and case studies were reviewed, current operational personnel were interviewed, and observations were made in an ESG during routine operations. This led to insight about questions of interest for the Navy, such as the allocation of Composite Warfare Command (CWC) roles, the inclusion of an ISR coordinator, and the division of tasks under both CWC and Joint Amphibious Doctrine. This information will be used to increase the fidelity of the representations and processes used in models, to create realistic scenarios, and to help with experimental designs that can inform decisions about organizational structure.