Attachment 6 - PSA DASH Pre_submission AMA Briefing_29 May 2026.pdf

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POSTURE AND SUSTAIN ASSETS

DECISION ADVANTAGE SPRINT FOR HUMAN-MACHINE-TEAMING

(PSA DASH)

“ASK ME ANYTHING”

A F R L

A B M S C F T

8 0 5 T H C T S

This briefing is

UNCLASSIFIED

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Overview

• Problem: Our C2 systems will not give us decision advantage. All decision-making is still left to the humans

• Collaboration between AFRL, ABMS CFT, and 805 CTS

• Battle management warfighters and software developers collaborate over two-weeks to:

• Use the Transformational Model (TM) to define, derive, and enrich software requirements for decision advantage

• Produce prototype/MVP-like services

• Validate TM decision function decomposition for service development for PSA

• Week 1: TM deep dive, baseline battle management scenario, software coding, warfighter feedback

• Week 2: Progress check, more software coding, HMT battle management scenarios

• Deliverables:

• Outbrief during week 2

• Service outputs using Government provided scheme

TM-framed DASH events will help us build machine teammates that arm our C2 enterprise with decision advantage capabilities.

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DASH 4: PSA

Important Dates:

• 29 May: Pre-submission AMA

• 03 June @ 1700 ET: Submissions due

• ~18 June (approx.): selection notification

• 13-23 July: PSA DASH event

You are here

UNCLASSIFIED

Logistics:

• Howard Hughes Operations Center (H2O)

• No visit access requests required

• Names of participants needed

• Bring your own hardware (some peripherals available)

• Unclassified environment/No classified discussions

• Commercial Wi-Fi available

• Pre-coordination required for external network requests

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PM/Contracting Comments

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PSA Academics

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• PSA – a Tier-2 Decision Function in the battle management decision domain:

• The yin to BattleCOA (ℂ ) Production’s yang

• If BattleCOA Production represents the kinetic energy of battle management…

…then PSA represents the potential energy of battle management

• The fundamental difference: non-overlapping degrees of freedom

• BattleGoal (𝕘 ) states:

• Under consideration ← BattlePlanning (TM-BP)

• Activated & enacted ← BattleCOA Production

• Latent: may be enacted sometime in the near future ← PSA

Posture & Sustain Assets: Big Picture – What is PSA?

TM-BM.PSA

Posture & Sustain Assets

“setting the chessboard for impending attacks”

Posture & Sustain Assets (PSA) chooses positions, modes of operation, and readiness states for units and weapon systems, along with resource commitments, that are optimized for impending, anticipated, and possible military actions, accounting for friendly-adversary environment moves and counter-moves.

𝕘 𝕘 𝕘 𝕘 𝕘 𝕘 𝕘

PSA is not a scheduler or en route controller…but it is a gambler

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• Posture & Sustain Assets: Close Air Support (CAS)

• What is “CAS” in terms of BattleResources (ℝ )?

• Weapons

• Sensors

• Comm paths

• A key measure of CAS utility is response time

• What is an ideal distribution of CAS resources? →

• Airborne on-call CAS with a 2-ship of F-15Es:

• Configuration = 2-ship with visual mutual support

• Operating Mode = max endurance

• Location = TBD…

Posture & Sustain Assets: Placing BattleResource (ℝ ) Bets

“Hydro, Gizmo 21 flight checking in as fragged”

15 [min] 10 [min] 15 [min]10 [min]

10 [min] 5 [min] 10 [min]5 [min]

10 [min] 5 [min] 10 [min]5 [min]

15 [min] 10 [min] 15 [min]10 [min]

• Execution support & leadership

• Information (presence)

What is a rational choice of location given that our resources are in discrete “clumps”? ↑

(potential)

BattleUtility (𝕌 ) ← maximal diminished→

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• What if…?

• The Ops Environment (OE) is no longer symmetrical

• Probability that CAS will be needed has changed →

• Would you change your bet? → Adjust location:

• Gain = rapid response if TF B-4 calls for CAS

• Loss = longer response times in the south & east

• What are the “latent” goals that may utilize CAS?

• Support ground forces x 16 areas of operations (AOs)

• PSA is a gamble: luck plays a significant role

• What about adjusting configuration? → 2 x Single-ships:

Posture & Sustain Assets: Broken Symmetries in the Ops Environment

9 [min] 7 [min] 15 [min]9 [min]

7 [min] 3 [min] 12 [min]7 [min]

9 [min] 7 [min] 15 [min]9 [min]

15 [min] 12 [min] 20 [min]15 [min]

Diminished

BattleUtility (𝕌 )

(potential use)

Maximal

BattleUtility (𝕌 )

(potential use)

A BattleResource (ℝ ): something that can do work in the OE …not just “damage” & “destroy”… “jam”, “hack”, “replenish”, “inform”, “influence”…

PSA ties BattleResource (ℝ ) usable EffectOperators (ê) to BattleUtility (𝕌 ) → taskforce_bravo-4:

@battalion_hq, request air weapons team asap

TASKFORCE_BRAVO-4:

@BATTALION_HQ, REQUEST

AIR WEAPONS TEAM ASAP

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• Resource Trajectories: how resources are changing in space & time

• BattleResource (ℝ ) quantity & utility change over time

• Burn rate

• Decay or improve

• Unexpected absence, presence, or change in usability

• Usability a of BattleResource (ℝ ):

• Unallocated

• Obligated

• Committed

• Reserved

• Battle Managers account for likely gains & losses to achieve new posture & sustainment

• “Checks we’ve already written / cashed”

• When available: cost of the posture transition itself (i.e., BattleCOA implementation)

Posture & Sustain Assets: BattleResource (ℝ ) Trajectories & Gain / Loss

Aerial Refueling (AR) Track

“Chargers”

“A/R Aft”

Pre-Mission

RTB

On-Call ?

BattleResource (ℝ )

+ BattleGoal (𝕘 )

BattleAsset (𝔸 )

“Ripit 71, Crusher, proceed direct Chargers, approved twenty-seven thousand, call when level”

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• Considering an opponent’s reaction to a move on the chessboard

• If you were the adversary, what would you do?

• What will likely change in the OE due to a new

PSA arrangement?

• Agent Reaction

• OE Reflex

• Does a particular PSA adjustment lead to:

• Quasi-stable state?

• Divergent states?

Posture & Sustain Assets: the Enemy Gets a Vote

Max range of enemy’s bomber-launched land-attack missiles

Air Defense Artillery (ADA)

Missile Engagement Zone (MEZ)

Indication of an attack vector

20+

As with most DecisionFunctions…

PSA must balance the need for quality

& the imperative for quick decision-making

Quality

Time to Decide

First

Approximations

Robust

Details

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• What are my enacted & latent goals?

• What resources do I have now & how are they changing?

• What options do I have for different resource arrangements?

• What utility could I achieve with an arrangement of resources?

• How well does an option fit my latent goals?

• How much would it cost to transition to a new resource arrangement?

• How will the adversary & OE likely respond to a new arrangement?

• Which, if any, new arrangement of resources as assets should I choose?

Posture & Sustain Assets: Putting it All Together

= weapons, sensors, comms, …

= fuel, comms, …

Some typical PSA cycles…

• Diffuse Inputs

• Acute Triggers