AFNIC engineers play key role in CSAF's Unified Engagement 2012 Wargame

by Mark Hizer
Air Force Network Integration Center

3/28/2013 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- For the Air Force Space Command's Air Force Network Integration Center Dynamic Network Analysis (DNA) team, the future is always now. That's because engineers Keith Jeffery, Sameep Sanghavi and Matt Schramm are experts in performing analysis and designing communications models and cyber simulations to support Air Force wargames that envision the world as it might be 12 years from today.

For the past eight years, the AFNIC DNA team has played a crucial role in Unified Engagement (UE), a series of wargames held in two-year cycles at the direction of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The purpose of the wargames is threefold: first, to educate, train and equip current and future leaders so they're better-prepared to develop strategies and make critical decisions in wartime; second, to test the effectiveness of new technologies and concepts, and third, to provide input to the CSAF based on findings from game play to support and validate AF programs.

Planning for Unified Engagement 2012 (UE 12) began almost two years ago, with a variety of scenario development and partnership-building activities culminating in a capstone event that took place Dec. 3-14, 2012 near Ramstein Air Base in Germany. More than 300 military and civilian representatives from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Denmark and the Netherlands participated.

Early in 2011, even though UE 10 had just concluded, Jeffery, Sanghavi and Schramm were already hard at work preparing for UE 12. Their focus: analyzing requirements and developing a comprehensive worldwide model to demonstrate the critical role of cyber capabilities in the scenarios to be played out during the event.

"With our experience and successful involvement in past UE events, we felt AFNIC was uniquely qualified to not only model communications for the games, but to provide critical, insightful analysis of how it affects critical capabilities such as Command and Control (C2); Missile Defense; and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)," said Jeffery, AFNIC's DNA team and wargames lead. "If those capabilities are impaired, the ability to fight a war can be significantly degraded."

In the months leading up to the capstone event the AFNIC team studied all aspects of cyber, from the location and capacity of the primary "backbones" of the worldwide terrestrial network, to the types of airborne and space assets that could be realistically placed in theater where UE 12 conflicts unfolded. Once this was determined, they considered every possible occurrence that could adversely impact cyber capabilities, for example, an undersea fiber cable suddenly failing.

According to Jeffery, two specific objectives for UE 12 were: to see how effectively participants could deal with two major conflicts happening simultaneously; and to analyze how new concepts such as the Joint Aerial Layer Network (JALN), a high-capacity aerial communications "backbone," can enable better integration of space, land, sea and air assets.

Helping the players of the wargame understand the realities of cyber--what's possible and what's not--was a key role for AFNIC's DNA team.

"We assisted participants in prioritizing their mission needs and better defining their communications requirements based on the scenarios to be played out," said Matt Schramm, Lead Model Engineer. "Then we helped them understand exactly what capabilities they can expect to have available as they plan and execute the moves of the wargame,"added Sameep Sanghavi, Wargames Software Development Lead.

At the capstone event, UE 12 "players" were divided into multiple teams with varying roles, including the "Blue" coalition team, the "Red" team representing the enemy, and a "Yellow" team serving as adjudicators to determine the effectiveness and impact of each move by the Blue and Red teams during the game.

Jeffery was a member of the Yellow adjudication team, where his role included providing technical support for the sophisticated models the AFNIC DNA team developed for use during the game. In addition to his Yellow team responsibilities, he also served as a "Trusted Agent", consulting separately with both the Blue and the Red teams on cyber-related issues.

Wargame moves were delivered as PowerPoint slides displaying the actions taken in response to the continually changing scenarios. After the "good guys" (Blue team) and "bad guys" (Red team) submitted their moves, the Yellow adjudication team evaluated the moves and provided a revised "view of the world" for the next move sequence. Throughout the game, player moves emulated rational actions that combatants could employ given similar real-world circumstances.

"Our efforts for UE 12 and over the past eight years in previous wargames have served to highlight the critical role cyber plays on the battlefield. We've helped ensure that senior leaders view cyber as an essential capability, and that it is in fact a major and vital weapon system." said Jeffery.

The UE 12 Capstone event concluded with a comprehensive briefing with all 300 participants on lessons learned, including key communications findings.

One indication that that cyberspace is a key warfighting domain and a critical enabler is reflected by a comment made by a senior leader during the briefing. Lt. General Craig A. Franklin, Commander, 3rd Air Force, said, "In the future I think comm [Cyber] is going to win wars!"

Col. Rizwan Ali, AFNIC Commander, echoed this sentiment, highlighting how the importance of cyber continues to grow.

"The last two games have seen an increase in cyber play and the havoc it can cause on so many levels," said Ali. "We're proud to be part of a mission to help prepare our senior leaders to manage such dire situations with confidence."