Modeling and simulation

The Pentagon's chief tester wants the services to ensure their major testing plans take modeling and simulation fully into account.

In a March 14 memo, Defense Department Operational Test and Evaluation Director J. Michael Gilmore writes:

In some instances, modeling and simulation (M&S) has been and will be an important element contributing to my evaluations. For example, the testing of new systems, such as those designed to operate in an anti-access/area denial environment, as well as the testing of systems of systems, will involve the use of M&S to examine scenarios that cannot be created using live testing. Whenever M&S is used for operational test and evaluation, I need to have the same understanding of and confidence in the data obtained from M&S as I do any other data collected during an operational or live-fire test. Thus, I expect to see validation, and accreditation approaches described in sufficient detail in Test and Evaluation Master Plans (TEMPs) and Test Plans, and the validation approach should employ statistically rigorous design and analysis techniques wherever possible.

In addition to describing a system's M&S capability in detail, Gilmore wants to see:

* The response variables and/or mission-level metrics of interest.

* The range of conditions over which the M&S will be validated.

* The plan for collecting the necessary live and simulation data for M&S validation.

* An analysis of statistical risk.

* The validation methodology.

For more details, check out the memo here.