MODELLING AND SIMULATION SERVICES
MSCOE’s Services Branch has significantly expanded its Modelling and Simulation portfolio, delivering advanced capabilities in support of NATO experimentation and analytical activities. CHESS (Cyberspace Hybrid warfare for Educational Strategic Scenarios) provides a strategic-level wargaming environment designed to explore cyber conflict dynamics, escalation pathways, and politico-military decision-making. It focuses on structured decision support and strategic insight rather than technical system simulation.
Complementing this, PreCyS (Predictive Cyber Simulator) and STRATSIM (Strategic Simulator) deliver simulation-based capabilities. PreCyS supports cyber-domain scenario experimentation and effects analysis, while STRATSIM models complex strategic interactions and cross-domain dependencies to enable consequence assessment and analytical depth.
The development of PRISM (Pre-escalation Resilience In Strategic Multidomain) further strengthens methodological rigor by providing structured scenario management, data integration, and systematic performance evaluation. Together, these initiatives establish a coherent wargaming - simulation framework, enhancing MSCOE’s ability to deliver decision-oriented, analytically robust support across cyber and multi-domain contexts.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION
The MSCOE’s Concept Development & Experimentation Branch is continuously developing proofs of concept with the vision of providing prototype tools to the requestors and further refine them to IOC configuration through industry support.
Wargame Interactive Scenario Digital Overlay Model (WISDOM):
WISDOM is a software tool for the configuration, visualization and integration of geographical scenarios. This platform is particularly suitable to carry out Wargaming activities and is aimed at those who need to perform education & training activities, experimentation, AAR or preparation for real missions, both in the military and civilian context. The platform is designed to tailor and reuse available scenarios or to develop new ones at tactical, operational and strategic level. Thanks to its state-of-the-art architecture, wargamers around the world can access WISDOM directly from their location as it is built to support distributed execution. Moreover, a specific HLA plugin has been implemented to share entities with M&S platforms and the tool is also able to act as a bridge between simulators, visualize entities as well as create and share additional ones.
Electromagnetic Layer for Multi-domain Operations (ELMO):
ELMO is a proof-of-concept for the development of a synthetic environment for the virtualization of Electro-Magnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) using the STK and MATLAB tools. In this context, M&S is the ideal environment for the implementation of complex electromagnetic multi-domain scenarios, to make virtually visible what is not physically visible or detectable in the real-world. Specific scenarios have been built to simulate military EM environments, with interacting objects such as satellites, jammers, radars, communication systems and military equipment. The tests conducted, proved the versatile capabilities of ELMO to develop a complex framework suitable, not only for Commanders’ decision making, but also for all M&S application, such as: Capability Development, Concept Development & Experimentation (CD&E), Education and Training (Exercise), Support to Operations, Mission Rehearsal, Planning (Course of Action Analysis) and Equipment Technical Evaluation.
The system is presently capable of calculating with high fidelity the following functionalities: communication and PNT jamming areas, radar coverage, lines of communication and PNT effectiveness, automatic network configuration, and automatic jammer configuration.
CBRN Activities Simulation Total Layer Environment (CASTLE):
CASTLE is an open architecture, which presently integrates existing CBRN M&S tools (i.e. ALOHA, HOTSPOT, HPAC) allowing data exchange and visualizing a dedicated layer on WISDOM. It represents a developed and tested M&S asset with the purpose of filling the CBRN M&S gap in NATO. The proof-of-concept scenarios was developed to simulate a synthetic CBRN environment with contamination and diffusion data. The objective of the project is to provide to the Commanders the capability of visualize on a Joint Common Operational Picture (JCOP) or run a simulation of a comprehensive synthetic scenario of the CBRN framework on the battlefield.
Scenario Automated Generation using AI (SAGA):
SAGA is a proof of concept based on an architecture that rely on the connection between a neural network and WISDOM. The tool is capable of generating scenarios for Modelling & Simulation (M&S) and Wargaming applications, for the benefit of military operations and concept/capability development, with the aim of supporting the decision-making process. The collected data are selected, georeferenced and automatically formatted by the AI to create new layers in WISDOM. The objective of the project is to build an integrated system with Large Language Models (LLMs) capabilities, able to automatically generate scenario filled with PMESII (Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, and Infrastructure) data in detailed circumstances and specific geographical area, based on available relevant open source and/or classified information and tailored to the Commander needs.
DOCTRINE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The Doctrine, Education & Training (DET) Branch is responsible for conducting the Centre’s courses on M&S, Quality Assurance, and Professional Development. In 2025, DET conducted 4 NATO approved courses on M&S to include two iterations of the NATO M&S Basic Course, which provides basic education on M&S and how it is used in the NATO Alliance. The NATO Exercise Support, M&S Integration Specialist Course is a course to prepare technicians to integrate command & control systems with simulation systems used in a NATO exercise. The NATO CAX Specialist Certification Course trains NATO personnel on the systems they will use as part of a response cell of a NATO exercise. This course decreases the amount of time needed for pre-exercise training and continues to grow in popularity. At the end of 2025 DET Branch organized pilot course - M&S Support to Wargaming and Experimentation which gives students guidance on exploitation of M&S technologies in wargaming and experimentation. The M&S courses provide education and training from beginners to advanced practitioners and supported around 100 students from approximately 20 nations.
MAJOR EVENT
The MSCOE also executes the NATO Computer Assisted Analysis, Exercise and Experimentation (CA2X2) Forum, an event that brings together the M&S community of interest to present current and future projects. The CA2X2 Forum hosted over 450 registered participants from more than 35 nations while presenting more than 55 sessions related to M&S. Lastly, the MSCOE also executes the Modelling and Simulation for Autonomous Systems (MESAS) conference in conjunction with the Czech University of Defence bringing this niche community together to advance their projects.