Simulation and Wargaming

9Simulation Support to Wargaming for Tactical Operations Planning

Karsten Brathen, Rikke Amilde Seehuus, and Ole Martin Mevassvik

FFI – Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Kjeller, Norway

Introduction

Wargaming has a long history and is applied to a broad range of problems at different levels of command (Perla, 2012; Caffrey Jr., 2019). This chapter addresses wargaming as applied in planning of operations as outlined in planning and decision‐making processes. More specifically, it covers how simulations can support wargaming for development, analysis, and comparison of courses of actions (COAs) at the land tactical level (brigade). To support this type of wargaming with simulation an understanding of the purpose of the wargame and how wargaming is performed is needed. The simulation support needs to be tailored and although they share a number of characteristics, simulation support to planning is certainly different from simulation support for training. Wargaming as part of the operational planning process at the land tactical level is characterized by time constraints and limited resources. Compared to manual processes, introducing simulation support could offer the opportunities to explore and analyze larger numbers of possible COAs and reduce the time needed for wargaming. Such support must however not come with an additional burden with respect to processes and resources. To be accepted by the planning staff, the simulation support needs to be integrated within the ...