Using value‐focused thinking to select a simulation tool for the acquisition of infantry soldier systems

In order to maintain an edge during this time of unprecedented technological growth, the U.S. Army must field infantry soldier systems quickly. However, given the considerable developmental, production, and fielding costs associated with such systems, the risk is high that the fielded systems will not have sufficient utility to justify the expenses. Therefore, the acquisition community must estimate the operational impact of proposed systems with an increasing degree of accuracy. For this, the Army has turned to combat simulations. Unfortunately, the representation of the individual soldier in simulations has not kept pace with other representations. Consequently, in order to support the needs of the infantry soldier system acquisition community, we applied a systems engineering process with a multi‐objective approach rooted in value‐focused thinking to identify the best path forward to utilize and/or develop capabilities that provide program managers with adequate and effective decision support to meet their needs. In this paper, we discuss the methodology that we applied, the results of the process, and the transition from our recommendation to implementation of the desired course of action. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 9: 199–212, 2006