Posted on 07/26/2002 9:36:27 PM PDT by Plummz
In the largest, most complex military experiment ever conducted, the U.S. military launched a massive series of war games yesterday, designed to simulate a worldwide crisis five years from now.
Staged with 13,500 troops from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines in 26 locations in the United States, the three-week-long military experiment, which will cost about US$250-million, is designed to give U.S. commanders a glimpse of how they will conduct wars in the future.
Dubbed Millennium Challenge 2002, the joint war-fighting experiment combines field forces in live ammunition exercises and computer simulations in a variety of conflict scenarios, ranging from terrorist attacks to full-scale war.
Over three weeks, U.S. troops will play out real-world scenarios that resemble a range of possible battlefield situations, including several which call to mind a conflict with Iraq or other Middle Eastern powers.
Though the military emphasizes it has no specific target in mind, the scenarios include simulated weapons of mass destruction, urban warfare, negotiations with the United Nations, a humanitarian relief crisis, space-based spying, major computer hacking attacks, and psychological and information warfare.
U.S. defence officials say much of the simulated crisis remains classified, but the hypothetical scenario begins with a military coup in a country stricken by a massive earthquake.
Just as the natural disaster occurs, a World Court decision over disputed territory outrages the coup leaders and prompts a dramatic military buildup and a shipping blockade.
In response, the United Nations imposes sanctions on the coup leaders.
"The setting is five years from now, 2007," said General William "Buck" Kernan, commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, who is co-ordinating the exercise.
"We have used technology to superimpose a computer-modified version of the threat region on the southwestern portion of the United States, where we will use an array of military training areas and ranges to test our live forces.
"In this experiment, the adversary has the potential to escalate a high-end, small-scale regional conflict into a major-theatre war."
Robert Oakley, a retired U.S. ambassador and former director of the U.S. State Department's Office of Counterterrorism, has been hired to play the role of "president" of the enemy state during the war game experiment.
As the simulations proceed, U.S. Marines and Special Forces will destroy a hypothetical weapons of mass destruction site at a former U.S. army base in southern California, then stage a 96-hour urban combat exercise that shifts between all-out fighting and peacekeeping.
Teams of computer hackers are expected to try to invade U.S. defence computer networks during the exercise, while U.S. military commanders adopt pro-active tactics, constantly searching for innovative ways to leverage their power.
"The possible types of attacks to not only the United States but to our coalition partners no longer allow us to react solely with military power," said Gen. Kernan.
"We need to be smarter and quicker, to use our guile and leverage information technology to get inside the enemy decision process and affect the operation."
The war games will focus on six crucial areas of U.S. military doctrine -- protecting U.S. homeland and overseas forces; projecting and sustaining power in distant theatres; denying enemy sanctuary; protecting U.S. information networks from attack; using information technology to link up U.S. forces so they can fight jointly; and maintaining unhindered U.S. access to space, while protecting U.S. space capabilities from enemy attack.
"An experiment of this size and complexity has never been attempted before," Gen. Kernan said.
"Approximately 80% of the experiment is being conducted through the largest computer simulation confederation ever built. Millennium Challenge '02 is the largest and most complex military experiment of its kind in history."
A few years ago, you'd have sworn it was the Fourth of July - some massive exercise going on over the mountains.
Let's roll...
China?
I wonder what former SoCal base they are referring to. El Toro?
Does that include Alien Invasion?
The article said army base, El Toro was Marine Corps. Of course such articles are infamous for inaccuracies, but if it was army there was an army base around San Pedro, I think. Fort ?, can't remember the name!
With 13,500 troops? Color me skeptical.
This exercise must be Kernan's swan song. C-SPAN just carried a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing from yesterday in which they were questioning the nominee to replace him.
Actually, El Toro is in the middle of Orange County near the coast.
They would enable much better testing across the breadth of the command center functions at division and higher levels than typically took place in live fire exercises.
Even in 1984 we sometimes played against computers. They were excellent at flooding up with miscellaneous BS that we'd have to weed through in order to get to what was important.
We have a tight lid on the world's supply of bananas. That should be more than enough. Paul Wolfowitz doesn't seem to think pointed sticks pose a significant threat on their own.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.