Vice CSAF emphasizes modeling, simulation integration during AFAMS visit

  • Published
  • By Noel Getlin
  • Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation
ORLANDO, Fla. (AFNS) --  Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Philip Breedlove emphasized the need to standardize live, virtual and constructive modeling and simulation across the Air Force and the joint team during a recent visit to the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation here.

"We must build to a modeling and simulation standard that allows us to take an enterprise approach without continually having to reach back for more funding," General Breedlove said during his first visit to AFAMS as vice chief of staff. "We should be writing our requirements to achieve this level of standardization."

General Breedlove joined Brig. Gen. John R. "Bob" Ranck Jr., the director of warfighter systems integration in the Office of Information Dominance and the chief information officer in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force at the Pentagon, while visiting AFAMS Feb. 18 to review what members of the Air Force field operating agency are doing to accomplish this goal.

During the briefing, AFAMS Commander Col. Marcus A. Boyd outlined AFAMS' capabilities, including efforts to work together with Team Orlando to form a live, virtual and constructive architecture that integrates sustainable LVC capabilities.

Team Orlando is a community of more than 200 M&S organizations from the other services, industry and academia working together with the common goal of improving human performance through simulation.

Colonel Boyd said AFAMS' mission has shifted from just advancing Air Force M&S to maximizing warfighter performance and decision-making via a persistent, scalable and integrated LVC environment "where our Airmen can plug and play, plug and work, and plug and fight" from the day they enter initial training to the day they retire.

General Breedlove noted the importance of aggregate M&S capabilities, especially as they relate to joint initiatives such as air-sea battle and the fielding of the joint strike fighter.

"We should be able to walk across the street and work with the Navy's joint strike fighter simulations, for example," General Breedlove said. "We don't want to lose any opportunity to coordinate with our fellow services."

AFAMS is the Air Force's execution arm for exploiting, integrating and implementing Air Force simulation capabilities, resources, and policy and guidance.

AFAMS officials consolidate emerging warfighter requirements, prioritize them for development, and advocate for funding. Once new capabilities are developed, they ensure the integration of those capabilities into existing and future distributed joint LVC environments. Additionally, they manage the execution of select Air Force-level simulation programs.