Battle Management Language - An Implementation for a Military Scenario Editor

Abstract: In order to plan and control a military simulation, there is a need for a language which can be understood by all parts and levels of the organization - both man and machine. This need has encouraged the development of a highly structured and unambiguous language. The term for this type of language is Battle Management Language. The United States military has further developed the concept into an actual solution for use with joint forces, called Joint Battle Management Language. Saab Training Systems AB is a company which develops training solutions for military training. Many of their solutions involve linking different systems with each other, and often with a simulation platform. Saab Training Systems AB has also developed General Scenario Editor - an application in which it is possible to plan a military operation by positioning military units on a battlefield. Battle Management Language will make it possible to control different units and state commander’s intent with a universal language. The goal is to enable the user to manage orders in General Scenario Editor by assigning tasks to involved units in the scenario. The application should be able to export a scenario to Joint Battle Management Language using XML. General Scenario Editor is not intended solely for use with Joint Battle Management Language. The biggest challenge is to allow users to plan a military scenario without the concern of the destined output format. This means that Joint Battle Management Language cannot fully determine the design of the application. However, the concept of Battle Management Language can still influence the method for structuring and storing orders in the application. This is done with the 5 W’s principle, which can be recognized as the fundamental of all military tasks. The principle is used in the implementation and specifies What, Who, Where, When and Why for each military task. The result is that General Scenario Editor can be used to plan a scenario, complete with assigned orders. The scenario can be exported to Joint Battle Management Language. In order to further show the proof of concept, a scenario can also be exported to the game Virtual Battlespace 2, in which the scenario can be visualized and simulated.