Applying data farming for military operation planning in NATO MSG-124 using the interoperation of two simulations of different resolution

The NATO Modeling and Simulation Group (MSG) set up the task group MSG-124 in 2013 to provide NATO with actionable decision support using the data farming methodology. This paper presents a largescale data farming experiment conducted within MSG-124. Two connected battlefield simulation tools - PAXSEM and ITSimBw - are used to get insight into possible courses of actions for the decision-maker in NATO Operation Planning. In a conventional warfare scenario PAXSEM is used to simulate an airstrike and entry phase on single-entity level. For the subsequent simulation of a massive land attack phase on an aggregated level, the simulation state is transferred to ITSimBw using the Military Scenario Definition Language (MSDL). This paper covers the scenario and model definition, data farming experiment set-up, and input and output data processing necessary to conduct this large-scale simulation with interconnected models of different resolution levels.