Battles of future fought today in massive military war games

Seattle Times ^ | 8-10-02 | Peter Pae, LA Times

[Oldeconomybuyer]

FORT IRWIN, Calif. — In the largest and most complex military exercise of its kind, thousands of U.S. troops, some armed with handheld-computer devices, are fighting mock battles across the country, attempting to mimic what a major military operation could look like in the near future.

Under the specter of a possible invasion of Iraq, about 13,500 real troops and 70,000 computer-generated ones are waging a simulated war, testing some of the most advanced technologies in development and providing a rare glimpse at the Pentagon's efforts to push the lumbering military into the digital age.

"This is clearly the largest joint experiment we've ever conducted, and, in my belief, the most profound as well," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The results could affect future military operations "like nothing else we've ever done."

For the first time, all of the services — Army, Navy and Air Force, as well the Marines and Special Operation Forces — are being linked in real time to fight coordinated battles at multiple locations.

Moreover, in an unprecedented move, hundreds of officials with the State Department, the CIA and FBI are taking part in the exercise, providing for the first time a coordinated effort to gather and share intelligence data with the Pentagon.

The training exercise, dubbed Millennium Challenge 2002, was planned months before the Sept. 11 attacks, but military action in Afghanistan and the possibility of more in Iraq have heightened its importance. All the mock battles using real troops, for instance, are set in the Southern California desert, which provides climate and terrain similar to Iraq.

Pentagon officials insisted the three-week exercise — which ends Thursday and is expected to cost $250 million — was not in preparation for any specific conflict, including Iraq. But they acknowledged the results could give commanders and strategists invaluable experience and insight into using information technology to overwhelm enemy forces.

The exercise reflects post-Cold War realities in which U.S. troops are expected to fight swift regional skirmishes against nontraditional foes such as rebel forces or terrorist groups, rather than set battles with well-defined enemies, defense analysts said.

One of the exercises includes Marines attacking a mock chemical-weapons laboratory at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif. Exercises also are taking place at the Navy's China Lake base, the Marines' Camp Pendleton and at various western sea ranges off the coast of Southern California.

Teams of computer hackers also have been trying to break into the U.S. defense computer networks, to disrupt the exercise and simulate the kind of cyberwarfare that military analysts expect in the future.

Pentagon officials said that the exercises in the end will test new technologies and procedures that they hope eventually will allow generals to plan and initiate a major military operation within a week of a crisis erupting. It took three weeks to plan and implement the initial operation in Afghanistan.

Moreover, finding the right mix of technology and organizational changes will mean saving money, time and even lives, Pentagon officials said.

In a preview of what an operation might look like, the commanding general coordinated the mock battles this week via laptops, first aboard a C-17 and then a Navy ship off the San Diego coast. The laptops were linked to other regional commanders at 26 locations via a secret satellite-based Internet protocol network and provided a so-called "common picture" of the military operation.

It gave the general an unprecedented view of the battles while he was moving from location to location.

In the past, the command center would have used sticky memos and grease pencils to map out battles based on oral communications over a radio system, which were often inaccurate and prone to miscommunication and failure.

Meanwhile, paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division dropping into a nighttime raid at Fort Irwin last week were equipped with handheld devices, dubbed "digital op pods," that not only told them exactly where they were but relayed that information to the commanding general hundreds of miles away.

It marked the first time that infantry personnel tested the new technology, which Pentagon officials hope will improve the soldiers' so-called situational awareness, and help battle commanders better coordinate operations.

The devices, which resemble handheld computers, include a global-positioning system linked to a satellite.