Developing a Threat and Capability Coevolutionary Matrix: Application to Shaping Flexible Command and Control Organizational Structure for Distributed Maritime Operations

Abstract

The mission of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD A&S) is to quickly and cost effectively deliver and sustain secure and resilient capabilities to warfighters and international partners. There are urgent requirements to develop adaptive acquisition framework (AAF) to speed up software development and acquisition processes that strengthen the concepts of operations (CONOPS) such as distributed maritime operations (DMO). It is imperative for the Department of Defense (DoD) to shape the AAF using data-driven analysis linked to the National Defense Strategy and the nature of global threats, and scale new capabilities to counter new threats. The threat and capability coevolutionary matrix (TCCM) addresses the requirement. A threat is a problem a capability tries to deal with. A capability is the solution to the problem that represents a threat. Coevolutionary algorithms explore domains in which the quality of a capability or combination of capabilities is determined by its ability to successfully defeat a threat or combination of threats. TCCM has the potential to systematically optimize, recommend, and coevolve capabilities and threats in new and contested environments. We show a use case regarding helping a program executive office (PEO) to wargame capabilities and threats against a specific domain DMO using unclassified data compiled from open sources.