IAF gets serious about games

The Indian Air Force has issued a tender for a war gaming centre. This is not surprising in itself: for years the world's air forces have fought battles in simulated environments.

It is, however, of interest to look at some of the requirements the IAF is looking for, as the centre will encompass all aspects of warfare, from tactical to strategic.

Below are some bullets that caught my eye: 

• System should be able to generate scenario and simulation at strategic and operational levels.  The facility should have capability to play the war game in coordination with or independently from varied locations across the country.
• The system should have the capability of populating different scenarios at strategic level in conjunction with other agencies both military and civil at national level. 
• Should be capable of providing and incorporating Out of Area Contingencies.
• Army/ Naval Forces Deployment.   Should be capable of deploying Army and Naval forces and factor them in overall simulation model.  Capability to show relative movement of these forces would help in planning and execution of joint operations.
• The system should incorporate ops, maint and adm aspects in scenario building,simulation and result generation in both low resolution and high resolution models at any stage.
• Must be capable of addressing higher level issues of application of air power and allow the players to learn higher level issues  of application of air power. The system should be capable of explicitly defining the situation.
• The system design model should be able to inject an element of uncertainty during the execution of the war game.
• The system should allow the IAF to explore the  role and potential effects of human behaviour and human decisions.
• Capability to simulate joint (Army-Air, Navy-Air, as well as tri-services) operational environment. 

 At the Avalon air show in March I received a one-on-one briefing from Elbit Systems on their training products. Their systems can rope in an incredible range of platforms, from pilots in simulators on the ground to pilots in real aircraft. The range of missions these vast teams can practice is mind boggling.