The Joint Warfare System (JWARS): a modeling and analysis tool for the Defense Department

JWARS (Joint WARfare System) is a campaign-level model of military operations. Its users include the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff, the Services and the US Warfighting Commands. Program requirement documents specify an implementation that fosters insight into the cause-and-effect relationships encountered by military forces. JWARS supports multi-billion dollar resource allocation decisions and critical operational planning. As a closed-form analytic simulation, JWARS provides a "balanced" representation of joint (modern) warfare. The simulation is mixed-mode, with models that are stochastic or deterministic. The JWARS program includes the explicit representation of effects and perturbations caused by information operations on command and control systems in military operations. Relying on state-of-the-art uncertainty modeling concepts, JWARS engineers and domain experts have developed high-level abstractions of sensor and communications systems, the related information flows, imperfect perceptions of the battle-space, and command decision-making.