Force Management Decision Requirements for Air Force Tactical Command and Control

Abstract

A command and control system is a technological, procedural, and organizational extension of the sensing, processing, and communicating capabilities of the military commanders whose decisions it supports. However, the increase in battlefield information rate brought about by modern weapons, sensors, and tactics requires selective but extensive application of automation to assist commanders and their staffs in reaching timely and appropriate decisions. The background and context of the problem and the development of a taxonomy of force management decisions in U.S. Air Force tactical command and control is presented. The processing requirements for those decisions are identified along with the types of processing errors and other critical problems in man-computer interaction. Finally, Air Force developments in decision aids for tactical command and control are reviewed, and implications and issues for command and control systems research, development, and design are drawn.