Exercise wasn’t just a game

By Andrew Stackpool

* Six ADF officers joined 350 American, British and Canadian personnel in America’s largest space wargame, Exercise Schriever II. Held at the Nellis Air Force Base, the exercise provided the opportunity to explore emerging technologies and their role in future operations. The ADF has participated in the last two space wargames and plans to participate in the next one in 2007.

X-WING fighters, Battlestar Galactica, and the concept of phaserarmed spaceships hurtling around the solar system shooting at each other will remain in the realms of fantasy for generations to come.

The Air Force, however, is serious about the use of “space” within the concept of network centric warfare.

This is why for seven days earlier this year a team of six ADF officers joined 350 American, British and Canadian personnel at America’s latest space wargame, Exercise Schriever III.

Last year, the ADF sent a team to Schreiver Air Force Base – a major USAF Space Command base – for Exercise Schriever II. This year the exercise was held at Nellis Air Force Base.

Wing Commander Chris Miller, Deputy Director Space at the Air Power Development Centre, said Nellis was selected because the base is the hub of USAF major operational training, including the Red Flag series of exercises.

“It was held at Nellis to stress to the warfighters that the use of space has an immediate day-to-day application for them,” he said. “Every time crews fly, they utilise space capabilities, such as the Global Positioning System.

Space is part and parcel of day-to-day activities, integral to everything armed forces do.” WGCDR Miller was very impressed with the accurate presentation of the scenario and exercise play.

“It was a free-play Blue versus Red exercise, so Blue suffered real-world inherent uncertainty regarding Red intentions and actions. Red came out with some very novel ideas that will now be further examined for the lessons learned.” The exercise provided a win-win for the Americans and the ADF.

“We go as a small team and look, learn and also input,” he said. “We get to see what our allies are thinking at this cutting-edge level of warfighting. Also, we get the opportunity to see how different assets we don’t own, but may use, are employed in coalition activities.

“We also get the opportunity to explore emerging technologies and their role in future operations. It’s an enormous learning experience for us.

“For them, we bring a different point of view. We think and act quite differently from the Americans, so we can provide different perspectives, alternatives and ideas to a particular problem or situation or to the overall exercise play as it rolls out. Australia can also be handy from a satellite orbit point of view, since we are diametrically opposite side to the US on the globe.”

The exercise was held at the newly- constructed Combined Space and Air operations Centre and hosted by United States Air Force Space Command. WGCDR Miller said that rather than soley a “space wargame”, the exercise was more correctly a conventional wargame that included in-depth consideration of the use of space in a future conflict.

“The USA has an enormous capability for utilising space, as do a number of other countries, and intends to continue that use in time of conflict,” he said.

“Likewise, the ADF utilises space to a far greater degree than most people realise, for example for communications, navigation, intelligence and meteorology.

“In the future, it is inevitable that the use of space will increase. “By attending such an exercise, we become much more aware of the implications of this and can hopefully avoid potential pitfalls.

“Australia has a very good relationship with the US, so we were very pleased to be invited to such a cutting edge wargame.”

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