Modeling Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations in the Combined Arms Analysis Tool for the 21st Century (COMBATXXI)

Abstract

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is undergoing organizational and operational changes to adapt to new warfighting requirements in today’s world. The USMC Force Design 2030 describes new concepts, such as Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO), with a focus on reconnaissance/counter-reconnaissance and maritime interdiction. To examine and evaluate new concepts of operation, force structures, weapon systems, tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as other adaptations for such operations, the USMC requires models and simulations that can represent the full range of variations related to these expected changes. The Combined Arms Analysis Tool for the 21st Century (COMBATXXI) is a combat simulation jointly developed by the USMC and the US Army to support modeling and analysis. Developed over the past 20 years, COMBATXXI possesses many of the fundamental capabilities needed to study these new concepts but currently lacks realistic representation in some key areas, such as maritime surface combatants needed for examining critical aspects of the new role of maritime interdiction. Such representation requires platform identification, targeting, and assessment of damage that can lead to determination of their continued ability to perform operational missions. The purpose of this study is to examine new warfighting concepts related to EABO and to identify relevant modeling approaches using the COMBATXXI simulation. The study describes a modeling approach, initial implementation of that approach in COMBATXXI, and preliminary evaluation of the utility of the model for supporting scenarios and studies relevant to the new USMC concepts of operation. The study concludes with recommendations for follow-on work to further improve or employ the developed capability.