The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has taken the reins on the British Army’s most extensive force development war game and collaboration to date, named Army Wargame 23 (AWG23).
According to a press release, this war game initiative sought to test a groundbreaking approach for the British Army’s future operations termed the ‘Land Operating Concept’.
Spanning nine weeks, AWG23 saw the engagement of over 250 participants, culminating in a diverse pool of experts from international allies, industry magnates, academia, and was observed by top-tier Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials. The exercise encompassed “4 fictitious mission scenarios” which were instrumental in assisting the Army in delineating crucial facets of a victorious operating concept.
AWG23 was graced by high-ranking Army officials including Major General James Bowder, Director Futures at Army HQ, and Chief of the General Staff (CGS) General Sir Patrick Sanders. Bowder extended his commendation by stating, “This event shows evidence of the great work that has been going on ‘behind the scenes’ and the compelling insights and results achieved.”
Furthermore, addressing the participants, General Sir Patrick Sanders said, “These are the most useful and evidenced insights I have ever seen from war gaming.”
International collaboration was at the heart of AWG23’s success. Sarah Knight, Senior Principal Operational Research analyst for Dstl, articulated the significance of such partnerships, highlighting, “International contribution enables us to use their areas of expertise which gives us a richer picture of how we can operate together in the future.”
The U.S. played a pivotal role by dedicating personnel specifically to understand deep shaping for a UK division engaged in close-quarters combat.
Weighing in on the collaboration, Colonel Matthew Olson from US Army Futures Command said, “The ability to share new ideas with our UK colleagues is very valuable to us; the environment, techniques and the exchange of information has been second to none.”
Well George, what were the “4 fictitious mission scenarios” – did these wargames involve boots on the ground – and more to the point, who won?
Wargames don’t ever involve boots on the ground. If they did it would be an exercise.
Just a tactical exercise without troops.
It got a 7.2 on BGG
There is a YOU TUBE site called Battle Order MK2 and a few weeks ago they knocked out 1 hour interview with Stuart Lyle one of the boffins behind Britain’s Experimental Urban Warfare Units its just over an hour long, but it is broken down into small indivdual segments with each on a different subject, concept. Very, very interesting , most informative and the silent video playing in the background (some on a loop) is sonething of an eye opener regards kit . Well worth a listen
Now that sounds interesting. Just tried that link and vid is unavailable.
Daniele,
Havent a clue what happened as the link works for me, anyway here is a screen dump which will “hopefully” allow you trace it down:
https://i.postimg.cc/5txfGyGv/Opera-Snapshot-2023-08-25-115218-www-youtube-com.png
The link works pretty well to me.
And now me. For some reason my place of work blocks it! It is fine now at home.
Ta.
I wonder if any lessons will be gleaned from wargaming with all or part of our FS structure, which many here have criticised, but equally others have defended as having been proved in past wargames.
Rolling the die under the table and shouting “oh i saw that, it was a six.”😇