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CSAF launches a new series of war games


by Michael Irish
Air Force Directorate of Modeling, Simulation and Analysis

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- A new series of annual war games will bring warriors from all services together this month to look at how best to employ air and space power in crises and conflicts of the 21st century.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman and Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Sheila E. Widnall will launch the inaugural Strategic Force '96 war game Nov. 17 at the Air Force Wargaming Institute, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

There, under the close scrutiny of former theater commanders in chief, a joint force of warfighters and strategists recruited from serving CINC staffs will work with intelligence and foreign policy experts to tackle several crisis scenarios.

These scenarios were designed by internationally recognized military strategists, long-range thinkers, the intelligence community, regional experts and industry. The scenarios will require the war gamers to think critically about future military challenges.

Strategic Force '96 is also an integral element of the Air Force long-range planning process. The exercise will be used as a template to test strategies and operational concepts derived from other long-range planning efforts. The war game will also show how the Air Force of the future will support Joint Vision 2010 -- the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's vision for future joint warfighting concepts.

"Future commanders must anticipate future crises, test concepts and create a structure that can respond with speed, efficiency and accuracy," said Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Case, director of modeling, simulation and analysis at Air Force headquarters.

"The Air Force was born of technology advances," he said. "Fifty years later, even more highly evolved concepts and technologies demand that we better understand the roles of air and space power. Strategic Force will enable us to test our assumptions about the future. It also gets us a 'hands-on' opportunity to employ future weapon systems and solve a full range of contingencies."

The general said players will have to exhibit critical and innovative thinking about the future to account for the ongoing revolution in military affairs, accelerating technological change, advances in information technology and political-military changes in the post-Cold War era.

Computer modeling and simulation tools will make it possible to integrate and test next-generation weapon systems in the play of Strategic Force '96. War gamers will employ the airborne laser, F-22, the Navy's proposed arsenal ship and other next-generation weapons. Teamed with future concepts, the warriors will be expected to successfully manage and resolve the scenarios' crises.

To complement the game, the Air Force chief of staff, senior leaders of the Joint Staff and well known futurists will deliver their thoughts on the future, providing a top-level policy and strategy framework for the war game.

In the end, the objective of the Strategic Force '96 war game is to encourage warfighters from all services to think critically about the future and increase their capability to deal with it.

"Strategic Force will require war gamers to 'think out of the box' as they employ future operating concepts," said Case. "These include asymmetric force, dominant maneuver, air and space dominance, precision engagement and full-dimensional protection.

"Using weapons of the future, the warriors will have to successfully manage, contain and resolve Strategic Force scenarios."

For more information, see the Strategic Force '96 World Wide Web page.