A modeling and simulation of course of action (COA) consequences in stability and support operations

Although operations that do not include conventional warfare are not new to the military, an increasing share of military operations requires both stability and support functions. The military defines the purpose of stability operations as: "to promote and sustain regional and global stability" and the primary role of stability operations is "to meet the immediate needs of designated groups, for a limited time, until civil authorities can accomplish these tasks without military assistance." Other major functions may include keeping armed conflicts contained and quieting domestic disturbances. This paper demonstrates the interoperability of two model-based frameworks for computer generated solutions that provide multi-sided operational evolution (coevolution) for stability and support operations (SASO): the Sheharazade SASO environment which employs a co-evolutionary genetic algorithm in modeling the dynamics of the complex multi-sided simulation for generating COAs, and the PIOVRA project (Poly-functional Intelligent Agents for Computer Generated Forces) which affords the ability to model movements and attrition in areas affected by civil disorder.