Assessment methodology for air defence control systems

Abstract

In Command and Control, humans have to make sense of the situation to support decision making on the required action. Development of an Air Defence Control system through a Systems Engineering process starts with assessment of existing systems to determine its ability to support operations within the modern and complex combat environment. This leads to further assessment of concepts with new technology, structures and process to solve the perceived problems. This process is difficult as Command and Control is a sociotechnical system where the human, process, structure and technical system, must be exercised in unison within a complex operational environment. This paper highlights the requirements of Command and Control system analysis and experimentation to propose an approach that considers the cognitive and social attributes of the human with the dynamic complexity of the operation environment. The importance of this approach increases within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) environment with different cultures and operational doctrines.