I__. - International Military Testing Association

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HUMAN PERFORMANCE DATA FOR COMBAT MODELS
COLLINS, Dennis D., Department of the Army, The Pentagon,
Washington, D. C.
The conceptualization of any modern system requires early
integration with its operational environment. The requirement
for early systems integration is particularly important for
military systems which are unique in that they must function
against an enemy intent on their destruction. Survival in this
environment is frequently the principal mission of the system
and also its principal measure of effectiveness. It is the
analytical merger of the conceptual system with its operational
environment which defines both the objective and importance of
military combat modeling.
Current versions of systems development models are virtually
all computer resident. Because of the complexity of systems
development, plus the requirement for many repetitions modern
combat models are best suited for an automated environment.
Combat models differ from Computer Aided Design/ Computer Aided
Manufacturing (CAD/CAM). CAD/CAM is used to conceptualize and
manufacture a specific system. A systems development combat
model, on the other hand, is used to demonstrate a system's
performance in its anticipated wartime environment performing
against its probable enemy. Combat Models are also unique in
that both the system and the wartime environment are required to
be speculative in order to estimate the probable reality at the
time the system will actually perform its battlefield mission.
Modern data systems provide the capability to view systems
,operational performance early in design, allowing elimination of
candidate concepts even before they leave the drawing board.
This relatively new capability to observe ltdraftVt or ltnotionalt'
systems inside a model of an operational environment presents
not only new powers of design, but new problems as well. The
process of systems development from design through testing now
takes place inside a computer. Entire technology options and
systems design concepts can be eliminated long before even
drawings are completed. Traditional human factors engineering
begins when the concept of a system is sufficiently firm to
permit the design of at least a mock up of the man-machine
interface such as a cockpit simulator. The combat model, however,
has allowed the selection of first order military technologies
and systems candidates completely inside the notional
reality of a computer.
Because the systems development combat model grew from
analytical communities which were oriented to tactics and
engineering, the representation of human performance parameters
in the evolution of combat models was rarely considered. The
impact of this evolution has been subtle. By omitting human
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