
Russia and China Are Crushing the U.S. Military in War Games - spking
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/defense-disaster-russia-and-china-are-crushing-us-military-war-games-46677
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chriselles
Having had direct involvement with military exercises over 16 years I would be
far more concerned with a story title that claimed the opposite.

One of the purposes of military exercises is to stretch
soldiers/sailors/Airmen, their platform capabilities, their interoperability,
and their leadership(Command/control).

Lose in exercises, learn from it, and adapt to discovered vulnerabilities.

If the “good guys” win every military exercise and every firefight or contact
within them, the likelihood of complacency rises and retained learning is much
lower.

Humbling defeats in training can lead to quiet high knowledge acquisition and
retention.

Being involced in military innovation across multiple 5 Eyes militaries, there
is great value in applying both real and theoretical extensions and
recombination to enemy capability to help friendly forces adapt and respond in
real time.

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nan0
"In these simulated fights, an aggressor force obliterates US stealth fighters
on the runway, sinks US warships, destroys US bases, and takes out critical US
military systems."

Uhh is this assuming that the US is just sitting still? Scrambling of fighter
jets can vary and much is just speculation on how fast they can scramble,
wonder which time they went with in this think-tank . Found an interesting
discussion on how fast an F-22 can scramble [0]

In general I would be interested in how these "simulated wargames" are being
created.

[0] "How fast can an F-22 scramble?"
[https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/9703/how-
fast-c...](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/9703/how-fast-can-
an-f-22-scramble)

~~~
sevensor
> In general I would be interested in how these "simulated wargames" are being
> created

I don't know about now, but from what I've read about the wargames of the
past, they had a lot in common with recreational tabletop wargames. Hexagonal
grids, figurines, rule systems. I too would be curious about how these are
done now.

~~~
dragontamer
My understanding of wargames is that its like a recreational tabletop game to
determine the results of combat.

But the movement of troops, and their positioning, is determined by the
soldiers in the exercise. So its like playing Axis and Allies (the generals
roll dice to see who "lives and dies" in the game), except that the soldiers
move in real-time (the soldiers on the board move to Hex-location X only when
the REAL soldiers in the exercise get to that location).

Practicing the issuance of commands itself is important: not only for the
generals, but for all the soldiers down the line. Communication is a skill
that is only built up with practice. Even if combat itself is fake, there's a
lot of benefit to the exercise.

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Leary
Sounds like another missile gap to me.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_gap)

I wonder where these exercises are simulated to take place, probably near
China/Russia's home turf where their A2/AD capabilities are greatest.

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josefresco
The core issues seem to be: Lack of medium/long range missiles, complicated
aircraft the require large airbases, and unsecured communication/sensor
networks.

$24 billion to fix? Doesn't seem like a lot.

Source: [https://breakingdefense.com/2019/03/us-gets-its-ass-
handed-t...](https://breakingdefense.com/2019/03/us-gets-its-ass-handed-to-it-
in-wargames-heres-a-24-billion-fix/)

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jsymolon
> Work was less worried about the near-term risk — he thinks China and Russia
> aren’t eager to try anything right now — and more about what happens 10 to
> 20 years from now. But, he said, “sure, $24 billion a year for the next five
> years would be a good expenditure.

Sounds like the Military Industrial Complex wants to lock in their profits
before the next presidential election.

