Progress in a system development effort is tracked through a series of
metrics, including Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs), which measure a system's
operational performance. Quantifying MOEs in defense projects poses formidable
challenges, particularly concerning metrics like lethality or survivability. Indeed, nonmature systems will not be deployed into an operational setting to determine the impact
of the system on survivability or lethality. In practice, surrogate performance
parameters are often employed as proxies for the MOEs. However, combat simulations
are a more precise means of apprehending and assessing MOEs. Combat simulations
can comprehensively operate in operational context while also anticipating secondorder effects, for instance, the scenario of enhancing soldier survivability through body
armor. Traditional performance metrics might link survivability to the armor's
resilience against standard rounds. Yet, augmenting armor weight potentially
compromises a soldier’s agility and speed, inversely affecting survivability. This
chapter discusses the use of combat simulations to evaluate MOEs throughout a
system's developmental trajectory. It will include an overview of how to develop the
appropriate simulation, model the system under development, execute the simulation,
and analyze the outputs.
Keywords: Combat modeling, Combat simulations, Defense systems, Measures of Effectiveness, Surrogate performance parameters.
