Welcome to this special modeling and simulation (M&S) edition of the Journal of Cyber Security & Information Systems, published by the Cyber Security & Information Systems Information Analysis Center (CSIAC). This edition focuses on wargaming, a key cylinder of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) innovative engine.
Articles In This Issue
Introduction to Modeling and Simulation Special Edition: Wargaming
This edition focuses on wargaming, a key cylinder of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) innovative engine. The Department wants to employ wargaming to develop new concepts which can integrate new capabilities, enrich programmatic and acquisition decision processes, and inform discussions on departmental strategies.M&S Support to Wargaming
If you deal in computer models and simulations (M&S), and you aim to support wargaming, you need to understand what type of wargame you are supporting, and you need to understand the wargame’s purpose. This article is about understanding those two aspects of M&S support to wargaming: wargame type and wargame purpose.Air Force Research Laboratory Innovation – Pushing the Envelope in Analytical Wargaming
The Air Force Research Laboratory has taken steps to revitalize wargaming across its Enterprise to evaluate the military utility of innovative technology concepts in combat. The integration of M&S to improve the analytical rigor of wargames is a fundamental part of this effort. In a period of growing strategic challenges and increased fiscal pressure, analytical wargames offer a unique opportunity to evaluate the multi-dimensional capabilities of advanced technologies and overcome technology stovepipes. Concerns on how to operate freely in the primary Air Force domains (i.e., air, space and cyberspace), exploit big data, integrate autonomy, and provide Air Force and DoD leadership with seamless command and control solutions are some of the many issues that can be explored through analytical wargames. Moreover, participation in analytical wargames offers Defense professionals a unique and synergistic opportunity to explore the realm of the possible with advanced technologies while sharpening their operational and strategic thinking skills.Wargaming at the Naval Postgraduate School
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the military services have employed wargaming for well over a century to prepare for war and other operations. The Naval War College first employed naval wargames in the late 19th century at the tactical and strategic levels. During the period between world wars, Plan Orange wargaming at the Naval War College was a key contributor to the strategic plan that led to the defeat of the Japanese Empire in 1945. Since that conflict, wargaming techniques have become widespread within U.S. organizations and throughout the world.Computer Assisted Military Wargaming: The SWIFT Wargame Tool
The Standard Wargame Integration Facilitation Toolkit (SWIFT), an Office of the Secretary of Defense, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (OSD CAPE) product, provides a computer environment that supports Department of Defense (DoD) wargaming. SWIFT complements, but does not substitute for good wargaming practices.Adjudication in Wargaming for Discovery
Wargaming is currently a very important topic, due to the renewed interest in pursuing the activity within the US Department of Defense (US DoD), for the purposes of discovery and exploration of future courses of action. Wargaming itself is very closely related to simulation, especially simulation for military training and experimentation, however there are some important differences. An understanding of what it means to do wargaming for discovery, and also how adjudication (or evaluation of results) of the plans and events that unfold in such a wargame, is the topic of this article. It begins with an overview of what wargaming for discovery might be, based on definitions from literature and from practice, and continues with an overview of what and how adjudication is currently done within a variety of different systems. Finally, a proposed method that combines some of the strengths of existing adjudication methods with the particular needs for wargaming when it is done for discovery, is presented.
