Plenary Speech

"Hellenic views of Modelling and Simulation in Security and Defence"

Lt.Gen. Leonidas Mazarakis, President AFCEA Hellenic Chapter

M&S for Operations. The significant presence of M&S in modern defence forces is evident. Among other capabilities provides a major support for commanders and their staff, by assessing training exercises, operational planning, mission readiness and corresponding rehearsals. M&S has the potential to save money and time, and to increase the Armed Forces capacity by using efficient simulation applications in support of the military commanders and their staff. Simulation Centres such as the Hellenic Armed Forces Simulation Centre in Athens provide the digital environment where the battle management skills of the military leaders could be tested. In addition to the aforementioned this capability is used by the command and control forces and systems conducting military operations. The Command and Control (C2) information, such as orders and plans could be also digitized in order to be understandable for military personnel, assisting through corresponding exercises (Computer assisted Exercises – CAX and Computer Assisted Experiments - CAE) their detailed training process and the development of operational doctrines. M&S for Emergency Response Planning and Training. M&S is capable to identify the interoperability problems between the various stakeholders and different services participating in emergency exercises such as earthquakes, floods, forest fires, chemical accidents, nuclear accidents and the transport of dangerous goods. For Greece the National infrastructure and the environmental protection is of high priority in the context of Civil Protection Organization’s responsibilities. The Hellenic Armed Forces Simulation Centre in Athens assists also the Civil Protection Organization, towards this effort, by conducting Computer assisted exercises. During these exercises the interoperability between agencies and Crisis Management Staff is assessed. M&S for Network-Enabled Capability (NEC). Expanding our efforts in a multinational environment for the aforementioned cases namely, military Operations and Civil protection response to disasters, we consider as a great challenge the interoperability between the various stakeholders. All this effort requires at least interoperable communication infrastructure, databases and M&S systems for distributed joint simulations. Greece is undertaking this challenge by participating in the “Southeastern Balkan Countries Initiative” regarding the development of a SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE EXERCISE AND TRAINING NETWORK (SEETN). Across the Allied Nations, the degree to which M&S processes and supporting technologies have been embraced is quite varied; therefore, to address over-arching interoperability leads to a Network-Enabled Capability (NEC). The extent, to which M&S can support these objectives, requires increased sharing of views and approaches as a means to shared awareness.