LESSONS, EXERCISES AND EXPERIMENTATION

Evidence is used from a range of sources in order to identify coalition interoperability gaps, to determine the measures to mitigate those gaps, and to confirm the effectiveness of implemented solutions. This evidence is assembled from the separate but complementary sources of lessons, exercises and experiments, through both national resources and Program activities.

COALITION LESSONS PROCESS

The Program exploits coalition lessons from operations, exercises and experiments, focusing on lessons related to interoperability between ABCA Armies as opposed to those specifically related to single service, joint and/or national contexts. These lessons are processed as follows:

• Collection.  The Program seeks to collect the maximum number of coalition lessons from the broadest range of sources, both actively through the deployment of lesson collection teams, and passively through the sharing of published reports. The Lessons National Points of Contact (NPOCs) and the SO1 Coalition Operations are the key conduits for the collection of coalition lessons for the Program. The Exercise and Experimentation Support Group maintains a Lessons Critical Topic List to help focus collection efforts.
• Analysis.  Although the Program benefits from the collection and dissemination of raw data and observations, it is best served when analysis is conducted to process those data and observations into insights (i.e., trends) and lessons (i.e., solutions). When appropriate, Project Teams (PTs) are established or conferences are convened to conduct this analysis.
• Dissemination.  Coalition lessons are collated by the Lessons NPOCs and passed to the SO1 Coalition Operations and/or downloaded on the Coalition Operations Lessons Learned (COLL) website run by the US Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL). Analyzed coalition lessons, especially reports from ABCA lessons PTs and conferences, are provided where possible in the Annual Program Input (Oct/Nov timeframe) and/or for the Capability Groups (CGs) and Support Groups (SGs) at the Annual Meeting (Mar/Apr timeframe).

LEVERAGED EXERCISES AND EXPERIMENTS

The Exercise and Experimentation Support Group maintains a database of national and multinational exercises and experiments in which one or more of the ABCA Armies is a participant. This database provides the Program and Armies with an awareness of activities that are potentially available to be leveraged. Such leveraging ranges from reviewing the post-activity reports, through the insertion of objectives, to direct participation in the activity. Of course, any leveraging intended by the Program and/or non-participating Armies is not guaranteed and must be requested from the host Army in accordance with the protocol required.

ABCA BIENNIAL EXERCISE

Every two years in the even years, the ABCA Armies plan to participate collectively in an exercise that focuses on Program objectives. The types of exercises that can be conducted include a field training exercise (FTX), a command post exercise (CPX), an experiment, a seminar wargame and a seminar workshop.

The exercise is hosted by one of the ABCA Armies on a rotational basis. Often, the exercise will leverage a national exercise that is already planned by the host Army. Participation in and resourcing of the exercise is voluntarily decided by each Army.

Planning for the exercise is led by the host Army with participation by representatives from each of the participating Armies. Typically, the exercise planners are organized into Planning, Analysis, CIS and Simulation Working Groups. Planning is conducted via a number of Planning Conferences (PCs).