Athena

Athena.
Modeling and simulation has underpinned Army training, experimentation, and analysis for more than three decades; recent advances in computational processing now enable the modeling of human behavior dynamics across the totality of the Operational Environment. Athena is the Army’s only deterministic, sociocultural modeling capability suitable to support training, experimentation, analysis, and mission command tasks.
Athena Snapshot:
  • Government Rights Software
  • Laptop Based
  • Efficient – Extremely Fast Run Times
  • Scalable – Supports Assessments at City, Megacity, Country and Regional Levels
  • Minimal Footprint – Can be Operated by a Single Individual or Small Analysis Team
  • Deterministic – Enables CoA Analysis
  • Rules Based Model – Enables Causality Assessments
Assesses Change:
  • Population Mood, Attitudes & Satisfaction
  • Neighborhood Volatility and Security
  • Relationships between Civilian Groups, and between Civilian Groups and Key Leaders
  • Control and Influence in a Region
  • Quantifies the distribution of Political, Economic, Cultural, and Informational Power

Decision Support Tool
Athena enables decision makers to anticipate the consequences of their engagement options by evaluating their impact across the full range of operational variables – Political, Military, Economic, Social, Infrastructure, Information Physical Environment and Time (PMESII-PT).

Computational modeling with the Athena Simulation can illuminate the 2nd & 3rd order effects rippling across the OE enabling the intended and unintended impacts of an operational decision to be evaluated.

Award-Winning Design And Engineering
The Athena Simulation received the 2014 Army M&S Award in the Cross-cutting Category.

Improves Situational Understanding
Athena addresses a commander’s need for improved situational understanding by providing timely and accurate information. Sociocultural representations are some of the most significant training and analytical gaps found in our Armed Forces today. Understanding the complexities of the human domain is a critical part of understanding the totality of the Operational Environment. Athena is a sociocultural modeling capability which supports a decision maker by providing both a framework to better understand complex PMESII-PT-based problems, and a simulation for anticipating the long-term consequences of engagement choices across the Operational Environment.
Examples of Utilization  

Experimentation and Wargaming

  • Unified Quest
  • Unified Challenge
  • Silent Quest
  • SOUTHCOM Wargame
  • Security Force Assistance Brigade TTX

Studies and Analysis

  • Studies to assist in understanding ISIL
  • Alternative Futures Assessments:
    • Syria/Iraq
    • Afghanistan
    • Baltic States
    • Korean Peninsula
    • China
  • Exploring the Competition Phase

Education and Training

  • Joint Forces Staff College – Nigeria Crisis Planning Exercise
  • School for Advanced Military Studies – Capstone Exercises

Deployed Support

  • CENTCOM FWD – Jordan assisting in understanding implications of the Syrian refugee crisis
  • SOCOM helping to understand the ISIL Threat
  • CJTF-OIR & ARCENT to support campaign planning

TRADOC G-2.
TRADOC G-2 Modeling and Simulation Office
801 Harrison Dr.
Fort Leavenworth, KS, 66027
913-684-7909