The U.S. Air Force Embraces Artificial Intelligence to Revolutionize Wargaming
The United States Air Force is embarking on a transformative venture, harnessing artificial intelligence to enhance its wargaming capabilities.
A recent request for information indicates the Air Force’s aspiration for a cloud-based, AI-driven “digital sandbox.” This platform is designed to facilitate wargaming at speeds that could soar to an astonishing 10,000 times faster than real time.
The proposed WarMatrix system seeks to alleviate long-standing challenges that have encumbered defense wargaming for decades, particularly those related to labor-intensive and unwieldy simulations.
According to the Air Force’s request for information published on November 23, the Department of the Air Force currently grapples with significant hurdles.
These include an inability to address crucial questions regarding capabilities, Courses of Action (COA) analysis, and budgeting, all stemming from a dependence on outdated, disconnected, and vendor-locked tools.
The Air Force asserts that this initiative represents a revolutionary transition from conventional, analog methods to a fully digitized and scientific paradigm.
Project Ambitions and Objectives
The scope of the project is undeniably ambitious.
“WarMatrix is an orchestration environment and a toolkit that enables rapid scenario creation and offers a unified analytical workflow with human-in-the-loop adjudication,” articulated an Air Force spokesperson in correspondence with Defense News.
The Air Force is seeking “technologies capable of delivering simulations at super-real-time speeds,” with the ultimate goal of expediting simulation processes by up to 10,000 times real time.
In practical terms, WarMatrix could facilitate hundreds or thousands of iterations in the span it would typically take a tabletop game to complete a single run.
Moreover, the system must “scale to accommodate hundreds of users and tens of thousands of entities” and be engineered to function across various classification levels (Unclassified, Secret, TS/SCI/SAP), as outlined in the request for information.
Compatibility is paramount: the system should integrate seamlessly with existing Air Force simulations like AFSIM, as well as those utilized by other military branches. An intuitive interface is essential to diminish “high barriers to entry,” thus making the Defense Department’s “simulation arsenal accessible to every airman.”
“The system is designed as a joint wargaming utility, with the government serving as the lead integrator rather than outsourcing the design and implementation,” the Air Force spokesperson further clarified.
AI is poised to address myriad challenges that have beleaguered defense wargaming, such as subpar computer adversaries that struggle with basic maneuvers like managing a tank column on a roadway.
In some instances, simulations have relied upon “pucksters,” human operators at terminals who control enemy units, effectively acting as a form of human AI.
Anticipating a New Era of Wargaming
Matthew Caffrey, a former chief of wargaming at the Air Force Research Laboratory, recounted issues with large computer models previously employed to adjudicate wargames.
“They were too sluggish to adjudicate even four moves within a week,” he informed Defense News, highlighting that expert panels often stepped in to arbitrate while larger models continued to run post-game for subsequent analysis.
In contrast, the Air Force envisions leveraging AI to develop sophisticated computer players capable of competent, realistic behavior.
In WarMatrix, “each entity is represented as an autonomous agent that reacts to real-time events,” according to the request for information. The simulation will incorporate psychotropic elements such as jamming and cyber warfare.
For beleaguered wargame designers and adjudicators, WarMatrix will significantly reduce the administrative workload associated with wargaming.
The Air Force has expressed interest in “LLMs capable of real-time transcription and diarization of qualitative data (e.g., commander discussions) to facilitate rapid analysis during and after events.”
Additionally, AI may act as a consultant, aiding participants in creating courses of action by employing a neuro-symbolic process to assess options, considering risk evaluations and resource allocations, as stated in the request for information.
Despite the Department of Defense’s turbulent history with complex computer simulations, the Air Force is committed to sidestepping these pitfalls.
“WarMatrix combines both computational accuracy and human intuition, ensuring transparency and strategic soundness in decision-making,” the spokesperson asserted.
“Compute and tooling, data integration, a human-centered design, and auditable trails address the deficiencies of ‘black box’ mega-sims by making assumptions and outcomes scrutinizable and cohesive.”
“This tool is being constructed by wargamers for wargamers,” the spokesperson concluded.
Source link: Defensenews.com.
