Computer simulations bolster joint-service combat training.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana

A federation of computer simulations is at the core of the Defense Department's billion-dollar program to boost joint-service training. The ability to connect simulations from each service recently was put to the test by Joint Forces Command, with promising results so far, officials said.

Connecting combat simulations in real time, so commanders and war planners from all services can train together, has proved to be a tough technical issue for the Defense Department. Last year, the Pentagon cancelled the multibillion-dollar Joint Simulation Systems program, as a result of cost overruns and poor performance.

Joint Forces Command officials said they now believe they could achieve a JSIMS-like capability in the foreseeable future.

JFCOM has a huge stake in this technology, because the command is responsible for the Joint National Training Capability, a billion-dollar program designed to help the services interact in live and simulation-based exercises.

The first JNTC exercise took place on the Western Ranges in January, and focused on joint close air support. JFCOM integrated several service models to create a live, virtual and constructive exercise environment. To alleviate the clashes between the different models, the command developed the joint federation object model, said Navy Cmdr. Jeff Wolstenholme, the exercise technical director.

"That is the glue that makes all the models interface with one another," he said during a media brief at JFCOM headquarters. "There's always integration issues between the models themselves."

"The federation that we are building for the JNTC is providing the capability that JSIMS would have given us, but still it is individual models that have been brought together," Wolstenholme told National Defense. "The services are kind of lining up behind that, looking to make investments to get their piece of their technology into this JNTC live, virtual and constructive [federation] that we are building."

When JSIMS was cancelled in September 2003, the first version of the software called block I was undergoing verification and validation testing at the Joint Warfighting Center--the primary user of JSIMS.

An analysis of alternatives is underway, to determine what exactly will replace JSIMS. Some critics have said that the analysis will recommend that JSIMS cease to be a joint program and be parsed into separate systems for each service. Others, like Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Seay, the program executive officer for...