Mounted Warfare TestBed (MWTB) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, was the premier site for distributed simulation experiments in the US Army for over 20 years. It used simulation systems, including fully manned virtual simulators and computer-generated forces, to perform experiments that examined current and future weapon systems, concepts, and tactics.
"In name only, Cyberspace had its origins in science fiction: its historical beginnings and technological innovations are clearly military (from NASA's primitive flight simulators of the 1940s to the ultra-modern SIMNET-D facilities in Fort Knox, Kentucky)..." - James der Derian, Antidiplomacy
History
The MWTB started as the initial site of the SIMNET-D Garvey, Richard E. Jr., "SIMNET-D: Extending Simulation Boundaries". Journal of the American Defense Preparedness Association, 1989 program in 1986. SIMNET-D was a spinoff of the SIMNETGarvey, Richard E., Jr., and Monday, Paul, "SIMNET (SIMulator NETworking)", BBN Systems and Technologies, Bellevue, WA, July 28, 1988.U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Distributed Interactive Simulation of Combat, OTA-BP-ISS-151 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1995) program, which was the first successful program to use low-cost computers to construct virtual simulators whose resources were distributed rather than centralized. These M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley simulators, along with the Semi-Automated Forces simulation and the Management Command and Control (MCC) system, allowed the creation of a realistic battlefield where participants could actively fight an enemy using current systems in real time.
The first MWTB site manager, Dick Garvey, established a strong focus on measurement of battlefield effects from Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulation. This was in marked contrast with the then-prevalent approach of using highly scripted, closed-form simulations, where the outcome was defined by the scenario designer. HITL provided an opportunity to evaluate new systems and concepts whose application was not yet fully understood.
With an enthusiastic embrace of technical innovation and a lean management style, the site carried Garvey's initial philosophy to establish many of the concepts and techniques for experimentation using distributed simulation.
Significant Exercises
1988: Forward Area Air Defense (FAADS) The first use of SIMNET for Developmental Tests occurred in March and April 1988 at Ft. Knox and Ft. Rucker. These tests were feasibility studies to determine whether SIMNET could be used for Force Development Test and Evaluation (FDT&E) and Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E). A total of 164 soldiers and pilots from Ft. Bliss, Ft. Knox, Ft. Rucker, and the Army and Air National Guard participated.
1989-1994: CVCC The most important early user of the MWTB was the Combat Vehicle Command and Control (CVCC) series of experiments by Army Research Institute that examined various aspects of the proposed upgrades to the M1A1 tank, including computerized navigation and digital command-and-control.Frances M. Ainslie; Bruce C. Leibrecht; Nancy K. Atwood, "Combat Vehicle Command and Control Systems: 3. Simulation-Based Company Evaluation of the Soldier-Machine Interface (SMI)", 1990 Nancy K. Atwood; Kathleen A. Quinkert; Mary R. Campbell; Karen F. Lameier; Bruce C. Leibrecht, "Combat Vehicle Command and Control Systems: Training Implications Based on Company-Level Simulations", 1990 Bruce C. Leibrecht; James W. Kerins; Frances M. Ainslie; Alicia R. Sawyer; Jerry M. Childs, "Combat Vehicle Command and Control Systems. 1. Simulation-Based Company- Level Evaluation", 1992 Lawrence H. O'Brien; Donald Wigginton; John C. Morey; Bruce C. Leibrecht; Frances M. Ainslie, "Combat Vehicle Command and Control Battalion-Level Preliminary Evaluation", 1992 Bruce C. Leibrecht; Glen A. Meade; Jeffrey H. Schmidt; William J. Doherty; Carl W. Lickteig, "Evaluation of the Combat Vehicle Command and Control System. Operational Effectiveness of an Armor Battalion", 1993 Glen A. Meade; Ryszard Lozicki; Bruce C. Leibrecht; Paul G. Smith; William E. Myers, "The Combat Vehicle Command and Control System. Combat Performance of Armor Battalions Using Interactive Simulation", 1994 They were instrumental in developing the training plans for the M1A2. The experiments used a company of SIMNET M1 simulators, augmented by a battalion of BLUFOR from the Semi-Automated Forces system.
1990-1992: Line-of-Sight Anti-Tank (LOSAT) The LOSAT system, which used a hypervelocity kinetic-energy missile and a sophisticated fire control system, was evaluated for human-interface and system performance.
1995: Anti- Armor Advanced Technology Demonstration (A2ATD) The A2ATD Harkrider, Susan and Yeakel, William, "Anti Armor Advanced Technology Demonstration (A2ATD) Experiment 1", 1995 program used a series of six experiments, along with extensive improvements to simulation technology, to demonstrate the utility of man-in-the-loop distributed simulation to perform credible experiments to support acquisition decisions. By demonstrating a verified, validated and accredited DIS capability, A2ATD established the foundation for subsequent activities at the MWTB and at all of the other Battle Labs.
1995: Focused Dispatch
The Focused Dispatch Experiment Lucas, Thomas; Bankes, Steven; and Vye, Patrick, "Improving the Analytic Contribution of Advanced Warfighting Experiments", 1998 was one of the first instances of live-virtual-constructive (LVC) simulation. Conducted at Fort Knox and the Western Kentucky Training Area via satellite linkage, its primary purpose was to examine how digital connections might enhance an armored formation's fire support, intelligence, logistics, and battle command, to determine whether enhancements in lethality, survivability, and tempo would result. Real vehicles from Company B of Task Force 2-33 were fitted with Vehicular Data Communications and Positional Awareness Demonstration devices, which transmitted the vehicles' location every 10 seconds into the simulated environment back at Knox. In the simulators at the MWTB, the soldiers from the remaining two companies saw the real vehicles exactly as they would see simulated vehicles.
1997-2000: Battle Command Reengineering Battle Command Reengineering was a series of experiments that looked at how digital command-and-control systems should be incorporated into brigade-and-below units. It also focused on what attributes these systems should have, their impact on other systems in the Army, and on the use of related future systems, like remote sensors and precision fires. It helped pave the way for the Future Combat Systems program. It fostered numerous innovations, like the development of automated mechanisms for evaluating the performance of the command staff,Throne, May; Holden, William; Lickteig, Carl, "Automated Measures of Staff Performance for Battle Command Reengineering III", 2000, examination of how situational awareness uncertainty affects decision making, information request, and staff dynamics,Golden, Michael; Cook, Thomas; Grynovicki, Jock; Kysor, Kragg; Leedom, Dennis, "ARL Insights From the Battle Command Re-engineering III Concept Experimentation Program", 2000, development of training programs for digital forces along with redesigned command staff processes for optimally efficient use of digital C2 systems,Deatz, Richard; Greene, Katrina; Holden, William; Throne, May; Lickteig, Carl, "Refinement of Prototype Staff Training Methods for Future Forces", 2000 and aggressive employments of image generation and HLA networking.Lorenzo, Max; Riggs, Bill; Schell, Dave; Caruso, Mike; Burns, Major Joseph, "Integration of Engineering Level Sensor Federation into a Brigade Level C4ISR Experiment Using RTI V1.7", 2000
2000: BCIS The Battlefield Combat Identification System (BCIS) was evaluated in a series of experiments that looked at user-interface and battlefield performance. The system was effective in reducing fratricide in night battles. However, in day battles, more fratricides occurred than did at night. This phenomenon was believed to be the result of troops using BCIS at night when visibility is poor, but trusted their own vision in the day more than they trust BCIS responses.Battlefield Combat Identification System
2002-2003: C4ISR The C4ISR experiment provided input to the FCS Analysis of Alternatives and the Operational and Objective (O&O) analysis to support the FCS Milestone B decision. The experiment was conducted in a human-in-the-loop, simulation supported, secure environment. The experiment focused on the issues of battle command and how it affected measures of force effectiveness.
2004-2007: Omni-Fusion The Omni-Fusion experiments built on the concepts of Battle Command Re-Engineering and C4ISR to refine designs and concepts for the Future Combat Systems Program. The application of widely distributed simulation to classified experimentation was highly developed during these exercises.
2006: Urban Resolve 2015 The Urban Resolve 2015 was designed to examine Joint Urban Operations (JUO), Military Support for Stabilization, Security, Transition and Reconstruction Operations (SSTRO), and Major Combat Operations (MCO). Ceranowicz, Andy; Torpey, Mark, "Adopting to Urban Warfare" 2000
2006: RDECOM Experiment FY06 (RUX06) The RUX06 was a true LVC event, combining manned simulators, a force wraparound generated in constructive simulation with actual vehicles fitted with emulators of future C2 technologies on the ranges at Ft. Knox in real-time; this experiment examined workload and stress of crews of future manned vehicles under varied threat conditions. McDowell, Kaleb; Nunez, Patrick; Novak, Brian, "RUX Experimental Review for Technology Transfer", 2006 Sterling, Bruce; Perala, Chuck; Blaske, Stephen, "Workload and Stress of Crews Operating Future Manned Vehicles", 2007
2008: COIN The Counter Insurgency Experiment Monday, Paul, "Architecture of the Counter Insurgency Experiment" The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology, Vol. 6, No. 2, 69-77, 2009 was a large, multi-site exercise that included most members of the BLCSE. It simulated downtown Baghdad, Iraq, with US and Iraqi soldiers, Iraqi police, armed and unarmed civilians from several groups, like Shia and Sunni, and armed insurgents. It examined how Future Combat Systems technologies work in a dense, urban environment.
2009: Complex Web Defense The Complex Web Defense Experiment examined the effectiveness of systems and tactics of a force composed of a Combined Arms Bn (CAB), one Stryker Infantry Battalion, Force Design Update (FDU) Reconnaissance Squadron, supported by appropriate joint and army enablers against a predominantly dismounted enemy that was embedded in a semi-urban environment.Paul Monday; Engin Z. Altan, "OneSAF Testing in Complex Web Defense (CWD) Experiment", 2008 [ntsa.metapress.com/index/q69v2w384p435l52.pdf] It was one of the first large distributed exercises using OneSAF with classified performance data.
Innovations in Simulation Technology
ACRT
The Advanced Reconfigurable Research Tool was a virtual simulator developed using OneSAF TestBed as a software base. It was very modular to allow rapid changes to vehicle characteristics, and it could model many vehicle types, like the M1 Abrams, M2 Bradley, Stryker, HMMWV, along with various variants from the Future Combat Systems program. It incorporated an innovative mobility model for the OneSAF TestBed (OTB) simulation that used SIMNET and CCTT soil codes in the digital terrain database to provide fine-grained soils with appropriate mobility response for computer-generated entities.Levent Yilmaz, Tuncer I. Ören, "Prospective Issues in Simulation Model Composability: Basic Concepts to Advance Theory, Methodology, and Technology", Modeling and Simulation Journal Online, 2006
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