Wargaming has been described as the “one tool that enables defence professionals to break out of the stories we have locked ourselves into.”1 The exercise helps in the examination of concepts and doctrines under simulated operational environments, thereby aiding the assessment of operational plans and their efficacy. Wargaming is also an analytical tool for how operational scenarios might unfold under various contingencies, including unforeseen and worst-case scenarios.
The criticality of testing the efficacy of operational planning is thus based on a deep understanding of one’s own and the adversary’s political and military objectives, judgment, and decision-making process. Therefore, there is a need for a deep and clear understanding of strategic (including cognitive) and operational thinking. For instance, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Chinese Science of Military Strategy document offers insights into drivers of Chinese strategic thinking, judgement, decision-making,
planning, implementation, and strategic evaluation[2] to evaluate how the intentions of an adversary will impact the PLA’s overall operational strategy and planning. This understanding is best gained through employing the ‘red team’,[a] which plays the role of an adversary and is tasked with identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses in one’s own defence strategies and operational planning.
In the absence of a critical evaluation of threats and vulnerabilities, the tendency is to mirror one’s own operational perceptions on the adversary, resulting in the blue-team[b] bias prevailing in real-time situations and leading to faulty conclusions.
The red team ensures that blue-team commanders understand the depth and dimensions of adversaries’ critical operational thinking, defined by their doctrines and capability augmentation. This approach entails evaluating the nature of threats and vulnerabilities and determining how these challenge preconceived assumptions. Such a detailed assessment is required to develop one’s own credible operational concepts and doctrines to meet future operational challenges.
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