A Centre of Gravity Analysis Tool to Support Operational Planning

The Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) is developing a centre of gravity (COG) analysis tool, intended to support operational planning in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). This tool provides a visual representation of the COG causal structure and an impact and later effects-based analysis capability, which facilitates the determination of the critical vulnerabilities that have to be degraded or negated to influence the COG. Furthermore it provides a framework, which can serve as a knowledge base representing generic causal relationships to aid knowledge reuse and knowledge transfer. In this paper we describe the COG Network Effects Tool (COGNET) suite, its underlying generic capability-models database and steps towards integrating the tool into the ADF joint planning process.