Measuring Mass and Speed at the National Training Center

In this report, a method is proposed and tested for measuring the massing of ground forces in force-on-force simulated combat. The relationship of the mass as well as the speed of an attacking force to attrition-based performance is explored. The researchers used archival data generated at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California. Successful attacking task forces were found to have had greater massing and to have closed with the opposing force at higher speed. The methodology developed demonstrates the high potential for using existing data from the National Training Center for theoretical research with practical training implications. Measurement, National Training Center, Prediction, Army training, Visualization, Combat simulation.