Defense One: Better wargaming is helping the US military navigate a turbulent era

Defense One features an article by COL Garrett Heath (Studies, Analysis, and Gaming Division at the Pentagon Joint Staff) and Oleg Svet (senior defense analyst, STAG) reviewing US Department of Defense efforts over the past three years to revitalize and expand wargaming. The piece includes an update on both the Pentagon’s wargame repository and the  Warfighting Incentive Fund grants.

The Repository has already proven its worth and will continue to benefit future generations of wargamers. WIF’s annual $10 million has enabled wargames that otherwise would not have occurred, revealed critical gaps, supported 3-star and above decision-making, and contributed to finding solutions to vulnerabilities that the Department was not previously aware of.

At present, the demand for WIF funding exceeds the supply, and its administrators will strive to select the best games that support decision making by the department’s senior leaders, explore its most pressing challenges, and support the National Defense Strategy. Wargames are uniquely positioned to foster judicious decision-making, especially among senior defense leaders, because by design they incorporate active adversaries, the effects of partners and allies, and the use of disruptive technological within the operational landscape. In other words, they simulate a truer-to-life depiction of future wars than other types of analytical activities cannot. Analytical wargames achieve outcomes that in the real world would endanger lives and possibly cost untold sums; stress-test commonly-accepted concepts of operation; allow participants to design innovative solutions to mitigate risks; and ultimately enable our nation to stay ahead of our adversaries. Senior leaders and action officers alike know the unique value of analytical wargames, and it is vital that they have the resources and the tools they need to take advantage of this practice.

You’ll find the full article here.

h/t Nigel Jordan-Barber