Battle management language

A Battle Management Language (BML) is an unambiguous language used to:


 * Command and control forces and equipment conducting military operations.
 * Provide for situational awareness and a shared, common operational picture.

It can be seen as a standard digitized representation of a commander's intent to be used for real troops, for simulated troops, and for future robotic forces. BML is particularly relevant in a network centric environment for enabling mutual understanding.

A Coalition BML, as envisioned by this study group in this proposal, developed and applied by the all Services and by coalition members would not only allow interoperability among their C4ISR systems and simulations, but also among themselves.

As it is almost impossible to imagine a situation in the future when a single U. S. Service will be unilaterally deployed, these efforts must be embedded into international standards. Because future military operations, and a significant amount of training, will be joint in nature, it is critical that a Joint Service approach be taken to the BML development effort. The same issues that have driven the Army to embark on this program also confront the other Services as they develop both their C4ISR and simulation systems.

Coalition Battle Management Language
Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML, CBML) is under standardization by Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization in the C-BML Product Development Group. C-BML is an unambiguous language to describe a commander’s intent, to be understood by both live forces and automated systems, for simulated and real world operations. The resulting language is intended to be applicable not only to simulation systems, but also to operational command and control systems, and robotic systems. Within the last three years, multiple papers presented at the Simulation Interoperability Workshops (SIW) have dealt with the need for, and initial work in, Modeling & Simulation (M&S) to Command and Control (C2) Interoperability based on the use of unambiguous mission and task definitions. During the Spring 2004 SIW, a meeting of subject matter experts determined that a detailed evaluation of BML efforts at a Coalition level is necessary and subsequently drafted Terms of Reference (TOR) for a Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) Study Group. The TOR for the Coalition BML (C-BML) Study Group was accepted by the SISO Standards Activity Committee and identifies the following tasks:

• The Study Group shall conduct a Survey comprising as many international contributions applicable to the Coalition BML effort as possible.

• The Study Group shall develop a plan for how these various efforts can contribute to a common Coalition BML specification within a methodological framework.

• The Study Group shall formulate a set of Recommendations for a Coalition BML Product Development Group (PDG).

The Coalition BML Study Group was subsequently formed in September 2004 to address these tasks. The Study Group has conducted a number of face-to-face and teleconference meetings through the year since the Fall 2004 SIW, involving a membership of over 100 persons from 11 different countries.

The 6 April 2006 A SISO C-BML Product Development Group was constituated at Spring SIW 2006.