CIMI2006. Copyright Försvarets materielverk and the Author(s)2006. Force aggregation for OOTW: classification based on capabilities Pontus Svenson, FOI Ledningssystem ponsve@foi.se 0. Abstract In operations other than war, we face many different kinds of opponents: clans, gangs, terrorists, guerillas and militias. Most of these opponents do not have a detailed organizational structure, and can hence not be analyzed and described using standard military hierarchical doctrines for units. Thus, methods previously developed for force aggregation do not work. In this paper, we describe an alternative method that uses descriptions of the capabilities that an object or group of objects possess in order to assign meaningful labels to them. This paper will describe the background of the method and discuss some extensions of it. A demonstration of the method is planned for September 2006. The output of the method is useful for reducing the amount of information displayed to the users as well as for use in threat analysis and planning systems. Modern systems for handling intelligence and providing a common operating picture will need to implement aggregation features. Aggregation is a means for reducing the amount of information displayed to a user, so that it is easier to process it. It consists of two steps: first objects that belong together must be grouped (“clustered”) so that they can be represented by one symbol on the display. Second, a meaningful label must be attached to the created group. Allowing this label to depend on the capabilities that the group has will help users achieve situational awareness. The labels based on capabilities can also be used for threat analysis modules, which determine what possible goals the enemy might have given the capabilities that we observe among them. Capabilities can be determined in several different ways. In some cases, advanced signal processing will be able to directly determine that, e.g., a group has a truck. We believe, however, that the most important source of intelligence used by the method will come from human observers (HUMINT). 1. Introduction In the overseas Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW) that the Swedish Armed Forces are involved in today, we face new kinds of opponents and new kinds of situations. Instead of preventing an invasion by a highly organized military force, the tasks can involve peace-keeping, providing humanitarian aid, upholding law (i.e., police activities), as well as peace-enforcing and battling militias. The opponents faced can be militias, clans, guerillas, terrorists, as well as civilians. Taken together, this means that new ways of thinking regarding command and control systems are required. For instance, while engaging in an MOOTW mission, it is very important to follow the Rules Of Engagement (ROE) that have been determined for the operation. Since it is likely that the ROE will vary considerably depending on the type and location of the mission, tools for situation and threat assessment as well as for planning need to be able to take the ROE into account when presenting hypotheses regarding the current or predicted future situation to the human. In this paper, we will deal with another important aspect of the new command and control tools that need to be constructed: that of handling situations where we do not have enough background knowledge on the possible opponents to be able to construct template-based systems for situation assessment. Perhaps the most important application