Battalion level tactical decision making: can automation make a difference?

This monograph analyzes battalion level tactical decision making to determine if an automated system can facilitate decision making during combat. Danger, exertion, uncertainty, and chance are battlefield conditions under which the commander must operate. While technology has increased battlefield speed and lethality, improvements in command, control, and decision making have not kept pace. This study first reviews command and control and decision making from theoretical and historical perspectives and then from the perspective of current and emerging doctrine to identify requirements for decision making. It then analyzes tactical decision making tasks and conditions to identify the criteria an effective system should meet. This study applies the criteria to manual and automated systems to identify their relative advantages and disadvantages to determine if automation can facilitate decision making and, if it can, what the proper mix of automated and manual systems should be. This monograph concludes that automation can facilitate battalion level tactical decision making. To support the battalion commander's requirements during battle, his command and control system should be based on a manual system to support the intuitive, leadership, and human elements of command and control. Automated systems should support the commander's decision making capability and battlefield control by improving his situational awareness.