Kibowi

Kibowi is a wargame originally build for the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) and also used by other European countries and in NATO exercises. Kibowi's primary purpose is to train staff officers at battalion, brigade and division level in so-called Train As You Fight exercises. The current configuration is transportable and deployed at several locations in the Netherlands and Germany, but nowadays also in for example the eastern European countries.

The RNLA uses Kibowi at their training school OTCMAN for the education of commanders and officers and in higher military education courses. Kibowi is also a valuable instrument for research activities like doctrine improvement and weapon procurement planning.

Kibowi Background

The Netherlands Army has experiences with computerized wargames in staff training since 1982. In 1990 the first version of Kibowi became operational. It was established that computer assistance in staff training had a substantial positive impact on the exercise revenues. It is also cheaper and does less damage to the environment when compared to a live exercise.

Kibowi simulates an all arms battle in real time and in great detail. The basis for the simulation is the representation of the combat environment: terrain (subdivided into 1 to 100 square meter grids, depending on the needs of the exercise), roads, bridges, water obstacles, slopes, artificial obstacles (e.g. minefields) etc. Weather conditions plus terrain features and elevation determine the firing zones and line-of-sight conditions. Speed of movement through the terrain is regulated by Cross Country Movement categorization.

Both combat and supporting units are specific combinations of vehicles and weapon systems (tanks, armored vehicles, trucks etc.), personnel (crew, infantry) and stock (fuel, ammunition), organized in a specific command structure (the order of battle). Units act in accordance to orders given by the unit commanders or controllers who operate the Kibowi system which ultimately result into combat situations and win or loss situations.

Kibowi computes the results of detection, firing, attrition (based upon single shot kill probabilities), fuel and ammunition consumption, logistics and engineering activities etc. based on simulation models. It is no exaggeration to say that Kibowi takes every single available bullet into account to calculate the results of a confrontation.

Kibowi includes tools for terrain building and configuring weapon systems, ammunition, vehicles and battle order. Thus Kibowi does not limit you when you want to upgrade your scenario's with new types of equipment, foreign terrain or new threats.

The Kibowi Multi Platform modernization release

Kibowi Multi Platform (Kibowi MP) is the latest build of Kibowi available since november 2004. Kibowi MP is a modernization release to keep up to date with the latest developments in warfare, peacekeeping and technology. Kibowi MP has many added extensions for Network Centric Warfare, Operations Other Then War (Urban Operations) and After Action Review.

The interface of Kibowi has been completely redesigned to be very ergonomic in order to reduce the burden of high numbers of operators and training time. This includes context sensitive menu's, automatic route planning, automated logistics and medical play plus GIS like interface possibilities using military maps shown in both 2D and 3D. One operator can control many units in a way more intuitive then ever before. This makes Kibowi MP a very cost efficient trainer and reduces the burden of organizing and training operators.

Kibowi MP runs on any hardware platform and operating system connected to the Internet or your Intranet, thanks to the use of Java technology. The limit in number of workstations, printers, etc. The limit in numbers of parties or units depends only on the size of the disk, processor power and bandwidth of your hardware. Typical larger sessions for RNLA or during NATO training now include 50 to 75 control operators controlling thousands units, but this is no upper limit of the Kibowi MP software.

With Kibowi MP it is now possible to link to other simulators and Command & Command workstations using HLA technology, enabling training in NCW settings. The RNLA can use this to link to their C2 Workstations ISIS and BMS.

Delivery

Kibowi MP can be delivered to you on turn-key basis. Typically,  TNO and it's partner ORDINA can deliver a customized version of this proven trainer including your extra wishes, conversion or linking to your existing data formats, couplings to your C3I systems and support and training levels to your needs.

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