Recently, Allied Command Transformation led a Science and Technology research task group on assisting decision making in NATO. The group believes that the most important Alliance decisions should be made with a full consideration of options, using all available facts and with an understanding of other implications. The use of models and simulations assist decision makers through a more rigorous exploration of the options and implications. Nations have developed their own capabilities, but these capabilities currently exist as islands of national excellence and sharing these capabilities has been problematic.
NATO Strategic Commands and Operational Commands, together with NATO Nations, Partners and Industry came together physically and virtually to address this problem. The group agreed a challenging and innovative programme of work to identify and mitigate barriers and obstacles that prevent sharing Modelling and Simulation capabilities between Allies. The group looks forward to its next meeting in December, at the Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation, where Nations will present use cases and agree to a multi-dimensional taxonomy to match decision making needs to National Modelling and Simulation capabilities.