A Tool to Support Joint Capability Analysis, Wargaming, Acquisition, and Cost and Program Analysis

The Joint Resource Allocation Model (JRAM) is uniquely poised to address President George W. Bush's challenge, quoted in the November 2003 Joint Operations Concepts - "Every dollar of defense spending must meet a single test: It must help us build the decisive power we will need to win the wars of the future." JRAM is a Joint Capability Based analytical tool that also supports Wargaming, Acquisition analysis and Cost and Program Analysis.

JRAM's developers anticipated the need for addressing: multiple scenarios at the same time; primary and enabling tasks (Deployment, ISR and Aerial Refueling are all incorporated in JRAM); and, both operating and acquisition budgets. JRAM's purpose is to assess the degree to which a capability exists for multiple scenarios (and for multiple Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) that are developed for each scenario) and for different types and numbers of resources. JRAM identifies the capabilities that can be executed by a given set of resources, where resources include existing elements of the force structure and the money to buy new or modify existing elements. JRAM is a force structure analysis model that links military operations to unit and system effectiveness in a sophisticated, yet simple manner. Information is not treated in isolation. Rather, the value of information is identified in terms of the other systems that would be needed to implement a CONOPS if the information was missing or not timely. JRAM simultaneously determines the marginal contribution of information and all contributing C2/ISR systems. JRAM accounts for the priorities of the capabilities and the effectiveness and consumption of the resources available to perform the tasks that are the building blocks of capabilities. It accounts for the need for "enabling" capabilities that also consume some of the limited resources. Sub-capabilities and tasks that are not completed define capability shortfalls. Risk is defined by the impact of the shortfall on the CONOPS that drove the priorities of the desired capabilities.

JRAM provides the ability to study new technologies by estimating the impact of the technologies on resource effectiveness and resource consumption. In summary, JRAM provides the ability to rapidly perform capability-based assessments for alternative scenarios and CONOPS that are derived from these scenarios.