M&S validation is critical for ensuring credible weapon system evaluations. System-level evaluations of Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFV) rely on the Advanced Joint Effectiveness Model (AJEM) and Full-Up System Level (FUSL) testing to assess AFV vulnerability. This report reviews and improves upon one of the primary methods that analysts use to validate AJEM, called the Component Damage Vector (CDV) Method. The CDV Method compares vehicle components that were damaged in FUSL testing to simulated representations of that damage from AJEM. In the past, the CDV Method has employed a variety of different analysis techniques and results presentations. Many focused on low-level validation results, detailing each component that was damaged in each FUSL event. The unique contribution of this report, which complements past CDV efforts, is that it focuses on high-level results. This has three purposes (1) to provide a pithy, yet detailed, validation assessment for a given FUSL test series, (2) to discover high-level trends that cut across an entire FUSL test series, such as whether AJEM performed better for one type of threat versus another, and (3) to compare validation results between multiple FUSL test series.
Suggested Citation
Grimm, David K, Thomas H Johnson, Lindsey D Butler, Craig Andres, Julia Ivancik, and Russ Dibelka. Component Data Vector Methodology in Support of FUSL-AJEM Validation. IDA Product ID - 3002075. Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analyses, 2024.