Evaluating the Effectiveness of An Agile, Coalition, Network-enabled Force

A key aspect of preparing for effective Coalition operations is the development of Capability (including contributions from across the Defence Lines of Development) that can remain effective despite the challenging context of agile network-enabled Coalition forces. Such forces are implied by the ‘comprehensive approach ’ to operations. This paper will discuss a collaborative effort between UK and Australia to introduce a sufficient representation of agile, networked, multi-cultured forces so that a ‘fair trade space ’ can be generated to support key planning processes. The collaboration will combine two extant models, DARNOS and STORM. Australia’s DARNOS (The Dynamic Agents Representation of Networks of Systems) aims to provide modelling and simulation support to analysing the operational effectiveness of a networked force (a team) with special focus on the impact of social structure (command and control or networking structure). This will be combined with the UK’s STORM (Socio-technical Team-working for OR Modelling) to give analysts the additional ability to evaluate how factors such as the prior experience, socio-cultural mix and work context may contribute to the overall performance of the networked force. Of particular interest is the dynamic behaviour of performance as teams form and re-form in an agile way to match emerging Coalition tasks.