Representations for military decision-making

Present-day warfare often involves planning and execution of operations in complex environments. In order to support military decision making in such environments I argue that the military situation must be conveyed by four categories of representations. In current practice only two sign-systems are employed. In addition the four categories should be linked to representations of the operational plan and its design process. By combining the six different categories of representations, military decision makers gain a better understanding of operational areas that hold complex system behaviour.