Carlson, Christopher P. and Wang, Howard, “China Maritime Report No. 30: A Brief Technical History of PLAN Nuclear Submarines” (2023). CMSI China Maritime Reports. 30.
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cmsi-maritime-reports/30
After nearly 50 years since the first Type 091 SSN was commissioned, China is finally on the verge of producing world-class nuclear-powered submarines. This report argues that the propulsion, quieting, sensors, and weapons capabilities of the Type 095 SSGN could approach Russia’s Improved Akula I class SSN. The Type 095 will likely be equipped with a pump jet propulsor, a freefloating horizontal raft, a hybrid propulsion system, and 12-18 vertical launch system tubes able to accommodate anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles. China’s newest SSBN, the Type 096, will likewise see significant improvements over its predecessor, with the potential to compare favorably to Russia’s Dolgorukiy class SSBN in the areas of propulsion, sensors, and weapons, but more like the Improved Akula I in terms of quieting. If this analysis is correct, the introduction of the Type 095 and Type 096 would have profound implications for U.S. undersea security.
Carlson and Wang, “China Maritime Report No. 30”
Court, James, “Wargaming at Sea,” PAXSIMS, https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2023/08/18/wargaming-at-sea/; accessed 19 Aug 2023.
Wargames have a long history of helping the warfighter simulate battle and conceptualize ideas. They serve to foster creative thinking, problem solving, and to teach players how operations work. While war colleges have traditionally been the hubs for wargaming in the military, the practice is virtually non-existent in the surface fleet.
Training for junior officers in the surface warfare community is already in crisis – two collisions in the Indo-Pacific region in 2017 publicly exposed training shortfalls that had long been open secrets in the surface warfare community.[1] Surface warfare training is left to the Commanding Officers (COs) of ships, who must balance junior officer training along with other administrative and operational tasks. When surface warfare officers study for their qualification boards, they are often counseled to simply focus on topics that the CO cares about. As a result, there is significant variance in how officers are trained and qualified. [2]
Wargames are a solution to this problem – they are small, inexpensive and can be tailored to work in a shipboard environment and around a shipboard schedule. They can be standardized across the fleet and can be used to educate officers and prepare them for their boards – better yet, they can be used on boards for practical demonstrations. Wargames can even be used by crews to game out scenarios before conducting unfamiliar operations. Peter Perla, the father modern wargaming, has even noted the benefits of a computer-based wargame being played on several terminals where junior officers pit destroyers against each other, while a more senior officer follows from another terminal and offers advice. Wargames can serve as efficient tools for training, morale, and creative problem-solving – all of which the surface fleet needs.
Court, “Wargaming at Sea”
Crookall, D. (2010). Serious Games, Debriefing, and Simulation/Gaming as a Discipline. Simulation & Gaming, 41(6), 898–920. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878110390784
At the close of the 40th Anniversary Symposium of S&G, this editorial offers some thoughts on a few important themes related to simulation/gaming. These are development of the field, the notion of serious games, the importance of debriefing, the need for research, and the emergence of a discipline. I suggest that the serious gaming community has much to offer the discipline of simulation/gaming and that debriefing is vital both for learning and for establishing simulation/gaming as a discipline.
Crookall, “Serious Games…”
Meriläinen, M., Stenros, J., & Heljakka, K. (2020). More Than Wargaming: Exploring the Miniaturing Pastime. Simulation & Gaming, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878120929052
Background. Miniaturing, or painting, collecting, and gaming with miniature wargaming figurines, is a popular, yet vastly underresearched subject. Previous research suggests a multitude of practices and ways of engaging with miniatures.
Aim. This qualitative study explores the various elements of miniaturing to both map the phenomenon and build a foundation for further research.
Method. Miniaturing is explored through a thematic analysis of 127 open-ended survey responses by adult Finnish miniature enthusiasts.
Results. Responses suggest a dual core to miniaturing, consisting of crafting and gaming. In addition to these core activities, storytelling, collecting, socializing and displaying and appreciating appear commonly, with considerable individual variation. The different elements are closely intertwined, based on individual preferences and resources.
Discussion. As a pastime, miniaturing occupies an interesting position with elements of crafting, toy play and gaming, and escapes easy situating. The considerable individual variation in enthusiasts’ preferences suggests a multitude of fruitful approaches in further research.
Merilainen, Stenros, and Heljalkka, “More Than Wargaming”
Schuurman, P. (2021). A Game of Contexts: Prussian-German Professional Wargames and the Leadership Concept of Mission Tactics 1870–1880. War in History, 28(3), 504–524. https://doi.org/10.1177/0968344519855104
Professional wargames (Kriegsspiele) had been adopted by the Prussian army at the start of the nineteenth century. They received a major boost after the Prussian successes during the German Wars of Unifications (1864–70) and were subsequently introduced by the armies of other European powers, the United States and Japan. They continued to play a vital role in the twentieth century, and all major German campaigns during the First and Second World Wars were prepared by wargames.1 I provide a descriptive analysis of the main forms of Prussian-German wargames during the key decade between 1870 and 1880.2 I then argue that the success of German wargames can be understood in the context of the military concept of mission tactics (Auftragstaktik). I will show how both wargames and mission tactics were driven in their turn by the even wider context of technological revolution in the fields of firearms and railway transport. I will argue that these contexts ushered forth professional wargames along an initially tenuous trajectory, before they became a key instrument in training and planning for war in the hands of the Great General Staff of the Prussian and hence the German army.3
Schuurman, “A Game of Contexts”
Smith J, Ringrose T, Barker S. An experimental intervention to investigate user perceptions of computer versus manual board wargame. The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation. 2023;0(0). doi:10.1177/15485129221141711
Analysis of the literature related to wargaming identifies a requirement for the perception of immersion and engagement in wargaming. The references generally indicate that the computer is less able to facilitate collective engagement than a manual system; however, there is as yet little empirical evidence to support this. There are also suggestions that players perceive manual games differently to a computer wargame. An experiment, derived from the previous analysis, was performed to address the research question: Is there a discernible difference between the levels of players’ engagement in computer wargames versus manual wargames? The experiment provides empirical evidence that there is a difference in players’ engagement with a computer wargame compared to a manual game, in particular with the manual game providing greater engagement with other players. Hence, if engagement between players is to be encouraged and regarded as an important aspect of a wargame for defense applications, then this provides evidence that the manual approach can indeed be better.
Smith, Ringrose, and Barker, “An experimental intervention…”
Strebel, Ian and Matt McKenzie, “Embrace the Nerd: Dungeons & Dragons and Military Intelligence,” War on the Rocks, 18 Aug 2023, https://warontherocks.com/2023/08/embrace-the-nerd-dungeons-dragons-and-military-intelligence/, accessed 19 Aug 2023.
In a perfect world, a commander and their intelligence team would have a relationship built on trust. Often, commanders and intelligence personnel are the only people with the same access to classified information, so theoretically, they can have free-flowing conversations where the commander and intelligence team challenge each other’s presumptions. However, due to the constant change of personnel and the operational pressures on commanders, often the only exposure intelligence personnel have to the commander is through irregular intelligence briefs. Without a developed relationship, building a compelling narrative becomes even more important.
The only way to overcome a deeply held narrative is to replace it with a more convincing one, and the ability to make a convincing narrative takes practice and training. This is, unfortunately, not available through traditional military training, but we have discovered a means of honing this skill at no cost to the taxpayer. We grabbed some twenty-sided dice and the Dungeon Master’s Guide and played Dungeons & Dragons.
Strebel and McKenzie, “Embrace the Nerd”
Vanatta N, Johnson BD. Threatcasting: a framework and process to model future operating environments. The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation. 2019;16(1):79-88. doi:10.1177/1548512918806385
Threatcasting, a new foresight methodology, draws from futures studies and military strategic thinking to provide a novel method to model the future. The methodology fills gaps in existing military futures thinking and provides a process to specify actionable steps as well as progress indicators. Threatcasting also provides an ability to anticipate future threats and develop strategies to reduce the impact of any event. This technical note provides a detailed explanation of the Threatcasting methodology. It provides the reader with its connections to the current body of work within the foresight community and then explains the four phase methodology through the use of a real-life example.
Vanatta and Johnson, “Threatcasting”
Previously I noted the journal article WANG Guoyan, CAO Hongsong, LIU Pengfei, ZHANG Zhiyuan, and ZHAI Chaofan, “Design and Analysis of Warship Strike Strategy Based on Mozi System,” Journal of Test and Measurement Technology, Vol 37 No 4 2023 (Sum No. 160) [Chinese language]. Subject of the article “Hypersonic Missiles: How China Could Sink a Navy Aircraft Carrier in a War” by Peter Sucio published on msn.com on 23 May 2023. An open press response disputing the findings can be found at “Taiwan obliterates China’s claim that it can sink key US Navy aircraft carrier.“
Feature image courtesy chinadefenseobservation.com
The opinions and views expressed in this blog are those of the author alone and are presented in a personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Navy or any other U.S. government Department, Agency, Office, or employer.
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