Pentagon War Games Show US Would Lose Aircraft Carriers in Potential China-Taiwan Conflict, Secret Report Reveals

That was Millennium Challenge 2002.

The real story wasn't the outcome f the war game and what was made of it. The real story was about the leadership and management failures going on behind the scenes. One side of the story, the common one in public, is that after Riper cleaned everyone's clocks the game was rigged so badly Riper quit.

The other side of the story, is Riper had a huge chip on his shoulder and exploited the rules so much he was undermining the entire purpose of the exercise. Riper went so far outside the constraints to run the exercise he was shutting it down. In video game terms, he was using "cheat codes" so OPFORs could win so lopsidedly it was over before BLUFOR could get started on any objectives or training at all. Then Riper wanted "game over, go home" on what was a a month long test and evaluation exercise, not a one side wins, game over except for debriefings.

So just how did Riper take out a carrier group?

When the simulation had his command and control taken out, he ignored it and acted like he had it anyway. He said he was using couriers on motorcycles, which acted exactly the same as radio, Including going across water and to aircraft in flight. Ground observers with binoculars wrre as good as radar and computerized command and control, with the advantage of avoiding BLUFOR's SIGINT.

In the computer simulation, he moved the US fleet from where it actually was to somewhere else, and had speed boats, Cessna's and fishing vessels carrying missiles bigger anything the could carry attack and kamikaze into the US ships, all hitting the US fleet simultaneously the US fleet so hard they lost 19 ships in ten minutes. The navy had no idea this was going on until they were told they lost. The small boats were all simulated, the USN crews did not face or see any in real life.

That isn't stretching the rules a little or taking advantage a loophole or two. He was flat out cheating. The people running the game were letting OPFOR run wild in coding the game and had to put the brakes on that to avoid wasting a month and a quarter billion dollars.

Previous thread on this:, 8/16/2002, https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/734530/posts?page=14#14, by Gunrunner2:

"There is more to this than the article states.
"The article is championing a maverick general that is trashing a wargame that he lost. Fine. . .but. . .the rest of the story is just as important.
...
"Bottom line: This exercises was not a bunch of guys running around in miles gear or aircraft outfitted with ACMI pods. . .no, it was an exercise to test command and control at a national/theater level. Van Riper better calm down. He may be a great tactician, but he is a lousy national/joint/theater planner/fighter.
"Some “free play” is more than other free play, and when Van Riper was limited as to WMD, he threw a snit fit. Face it, if someone throws WMD our way it is a whole new ball game, with the US going for quick and dirty win—nuke. Van Riper wanted WMD options that would have ended the game. Not good, and if he had that option, then why exercise at all?"

My later comment:

"This wasn't just a war game. It was also a lab for command and control and war-fighting concepts that needed testing. Testing requires controlled environments, and Ripper didn't like the controls. If the game is over on day one, then several years of work gets wasted. That is not realistic either."

Considering how much of our debt is owned by China, how much food they import from the US and how much of their economy is based on exports to the US, what would they gain by going to war with the US?

Making anything of this report is foolhardy. Sensationalism at its best. Entertainment value only.

War games are designed for the worst possible outcome, not a realistic one.

Keep in mind of those 150 carriers 24 were full fleet carriers of the Essex class, nine were light carriers of the Independence class and the remainder escort carriers.

You take out a US carrie you get the Nuke

The US would take out the Three Gorges Dam early in the conflict and flood half of China.

Grandpa and grandma Han will sit in their wheelchairs leading bumbling battalions of lying flat (tǎng píng) kids protesting for a simpler life.

Abortion has real-life consequences for the ChiComm morons.