Capability Experimentation
Capability Design Programmes for Commercial & Military Clients
Cordillera’s team of highly experienced PRINCE 2 Project Managers, Concept Development and Experiment (CD&E) staff and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are able to offer commercial and military clients a well tried and tested capability development programme with support from experimentation and wargaming.
Our SMEs provide support and advice on the future operating environment, strategic trends, future physical and technology threats, planning, concept and doctrine writing, programme management, red teaming, modelling and simulation and capability experimentation support.
We deliver the integrated capability design, illustrated above, which will allow clients to use a unique set of tools, capabilities and SMEs to enhance capability development and capacity building.
Cordillera has a proven track record of delivering future capability development projects. Our company also tracks developing and emerging technologies, and future threats and risks which allows us to deliver a future focused, adaptable and innovative approach to capability development.
Cordillera has delivered CD&E services to the following clients:
World Bank; City of Norfolk; City of Newport News; City of Virginia Beach; Hampton Roads Region; City of Denver; Barclays Bank; Deutsche Bank; University of New South Wales, Canberra; Defence Research & Development, Canada; Development, Concepts & Doctrine Centre, Shrivenham, UK; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, USA; Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, UK; NATO HQ SACT; NATO HQ SHAPE; British Army; United States Marine Corps; UK Space Command; University of Texas at Austin; VioletShift; UK MoD; Royal Marines, and PAX for Peace.
To enable CD&E requirements to come to life, we use a number of tools and techniques to support the capability development process.
Modelling & Simulation
Cordillera with our partners Systematic Inc, MAK Technologies, Calian, Scenario AI and Cervus Defence have built an integrated Next Generation Common Synthetic Environment that delivers state of the art Multi-Domain Operations for Force Development, Wargaming, Iterative Course of Action, Decision Making and Capability & Concept Development.
This integrated solution has been used by NATO HQ SACT, SHAPE and the UK MoD to deliver major multi-domain wargaming including Urban and Arctic scenarios. Moreover, the modelled urban, digital and space environments have been designed with industry to ensure the accurate modelling of critical national infrastructure systems and digital information flows.
Discovery Event
A discovery event is designed to build understanding, provide potential solutions, introduce novel concepts and help refine the question to be addressed. It is conducted against a loose hypothesis that bounds the event to make it achievable e.g. a high-level wargame.
Table Top Experiment
A Table Top experiment is a cost-effective methodology for creating an experiment environment. In a military environment it is as straight forward as a map on a table upon which different players place their ideas and concepts in the form of capability cards. These ideas are challenged and discussed by a “Red-Team” of critical thinkers who play the devil’s advocate. Depending on the capability you want to develop and analyse you can add additional players such as SMEs to stimulate the debate.
A Matrix Game
Red Teaming
Cordillera, through its involvement in the resilience, urban and urban littoral fields, has created a number of innovative approaches for concept development and training. Cordillera has also developed a Red Teaming capability to compliment its capability development, exercise and training programme. Modelling and red teaming is used to improve the development environment, stimulate debate and encourage critical thinking. Further, it creates a better understanding of the operational environment, or the problem being addressed, and allows the testing of various capabilities and ideas. Cordillera Red Teaming and modelling encourages the challenge and evaluation of existing methodologies and planning to ensure they are fit for purpose. This approach also allows for the identification of new opportunities.
Resilience, Threat and Operational Vignettes
Data Capture & Analysis Plan
Cordillera has an expert team of operational analysts who will work with the client to develop a Data Capture & Analysis Plan that is specific to their needs. The purpose of the data capture and analysis plan is to provide a framework that links the effects that are anticipated to be generated within game play through to the aims and objectives of the experiment. The DCAP supports the design and conduct of the experiment by identifying the data requirements that the event needs to generate. This is achieved through a combination of ensuring that the treatment is appropriate to achievement of the aims and objectives, ensuring that the players have the requisite knowledge, skills and experience and authority needed to generate credible evidence that is relevant to the aims and objectives and can also be related to operations. Additionally, understanding the relationship between the aim, objectives and expected effects allows the game design team to ensure that the scenarios, vignettes and runs are sufficient to stimulate player activity to generate relevant effects. In this way the DCAP supports the shaping of the game design. The DCAP also provides the guidelines to the execution team and importantly, the facilitators to keep the game on track towards the achievement of the game aims and objectives. Finally, the DCAP, in combination with the Risk Evaluation Matrix, provides the mechanism for technical assurance, to assist in ensuring that before execution, threats to the conduct of a successful experiment or wargame have been considered and mitigated as far as reasonably practicable, and that any residual risk is known to the sponsors and the delivery team.
