Air Force taps DCS for artificial intelligence (AI) and modeling and simulation for weapons effects
Air Force taps DCS for artificial intelligence (AI) and modeling and simulation for weapons effects
Publish Date: 2026-02-24 05:34:00
Source Domain: www.militaryaerospace.com
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio – U.S. Air Force researchers are asking DCS Corp. in Alexandria, Va., for new ways of predicting the effects of bombs, missiles, electronic warfare (EW), cyber attacks, and reconnaissance missions in military operations against potential enemies.
Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced a $94.7 million five-year contract to DCS last week for the Assessment of Sensing-Autonomy Sensor Exploitation Technologies (ASSET) program.
ASSET, sponsored by the Air Force Research Lab’s sensors directorate, seeks to develop tools to model, analyze, assess, and predict mission-level effects from sensor fusion or from modeling and simulation. The project involves technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI), machine autonomy, and machine learning.
The program has goals in four technology areas: mission effects modeling and analysis; multi-domain sensing autonomy; support for key mission areas; and battlespace decision support.
Effects modeling
Mission effects modeling and analysis (MEMA) focuses on understanding, predicting, and evaluating how military operations perform under various conditions. It’s about simulating the weapons effects of systems, tactics, or environmental factors on mission outcomes. MEMA aims to answer questions like: “If we deploy this weapon system in this environment, how effective will it be?”
Modeling and simulation involves building virtual representations of missions, systems, and environments, including aircraft, ships, sensors, communications, and enemy behavior, and running scenarios where mission variables change to see their effects.
Applications can involve evaluating new weapons or sensors before deployment; training commanders with realistic simulations of battlefield conditions; risk assessment and contingency planning; and designing resilient systems and plans.
MEMA provides decision-makers with insights on how a mission likely will perform…
