The USMC is set to extend its wargaming capabilities to cover full multi-domain coalition operations at the highest levels of security classification as it readies a new bespoke building and software.

The USMC is making good progress with its new wargaming centre (WGC), which is being established at Quantico, Virginia, and on track to achieve initial operational capability (IOC) in FY2026... Continues below

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Above: The USMC’s General Robert B Neller Center for Wargaming and Analysis will host up to 20 games per annum, with as many as 250 participants apiece. (Photo: USMC)

The WGC was recently renamed the General Robert B Neller Center for Wargaming and Analysis.

Speaking at last December’s I/ITSEC event in Orlando, Lt Col Wynndee Young, WGC project manager, said the aim is to provide a significant enhancement to the corps’ capability by providing a comprehensive environment to conduct the full spectrum of wargames.

Col George Schreffler, director of the wargaming division of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL), explained that the primary use cases for the centre are concept development, capability development and to inform operational decisions and plans.

Data-enabled wargames will support the force design, development and employment process and lead to defensible positions on future capabilities and resource priorities based on data-informed insights and analytical findings. ‘It will support the vision for [the USMC] Force Design 2030,’ he said.

He added that secondary use cases include science and technology development, senior leader engagement, and training and education.

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Schreffler noted that prior to 2019 the marines’ wargaming capability was limited to Unclassified and Secret ‘traditional table-top games’ and a digital version of these, the Standard Wargame Integration Facilitation Toolkit (SWIFT), with manual dictation of moves and reporting.

An interim capability was introduced in 2020 with a commercial wargame, Command Professional Edition, which could also run at Top Secret level, be deployed on separate networks and operated in the air, surface and subsurface domains.

Schreffler said the Neller Center will provide a fully integrated wargaming/analytics process, with integrated simulation engines covering land, air, surface, subsurface, space, cyber and human domains.

It will operate up to Special Access Program (SAP) and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) classification levels and include coalition capability, and be capable of data ingestion from multiple sources, perform real-time adjudication and post-game analytics, and simulate millions of people and platforms in real-world conditions.

Young added that the WGC is a complex programme, initiated in 2017, which includes a building, infrastructure, personnel and software. Construction began in May 2021 and is virtually complete. Installation of IT and audiovisual infrastructure will be completed by September 2024, followed by an accreditation process lasting until May 2025.

Permanent staff will ultimately consist of around 226 personnel with a mix of military, civilian and contractors. Schreffler said that there were currently about 45 people assigned, but that would increase to about 50% of the final number when the building is first occupied.

The principle wargaming software is called Pioneer, developed by a consortium led by BAE Systems which includes Bohemia Interactive Solutions, CAE, Cole Engineering Services, Covan Group, 4C Strategies, Plexsys, Stilman Advanced Strategies and Stucan Solutions.

Above: Virtual and constructive simulations will be integrated into the same model by the Pioneer software. (Image: BAE Systems).

Following a competitive risk reduction phase, BAE was selected in early 2021 to develop a Phase II prototype. After a development test in July 2022 it was awarded the Phase III baseline contract to finalise, test and demonstrate the prototype.

There was an operational demonstration in June 2023, which Young said identified that more work was required. Once this is complete the programme will move into the production and installation phase.

Also speaking at I/ITSEC, Dave Roper, business development director for BAE Systems Intelligence Solutions, said that there had been ‘steady progress’ in developing Pioneer.

He noted that its core is a ‘BAE Systems trademark framework’ which integrates applications provided by consortium members covering different aspects of the wargaming process.

Roper said Pioneer extends from tactical to strategic levels and aggregates detailed activity at the entity level, providing ‘a very robust data visualisation capability’, both temporally and in terms of force composition.

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Once fully developed and installed, when full operational capability (FOC) is achieved, Roper said the system was designed to be run by USMC personnel, although BAE will continue to provide software support and development if necessary.

Young said the Neller Center will ultimately provide up to 20 games per annum with up to 250 participants each. The qualification criteria for IOC in FY2026 are: the execution of one wargame at a minimum of Secret classification with at least three cells (blue/red/white); computer-assisted modelling and simulation; competitive ground truth and perceived truths; digital plans and orders; and fully dynamic interactive games and results visualisation.

FOC is estimated for FY2028, with the capability to conduct two simultaneous wargames; one at Top Secret/SCI classification level; one with participation from remote locations; one with a minimum of five cells (blue/red/white/green/orange); computer simulation driven; digital plans and orders; fully dynamic interactive games with 3D resolution; and dynamic data/results visualisation.

Above: A graphic illustrating some of the different levels and concepts that the Pioneer system will be able to wargame simultaneously. (Image: BAE Systems)

Schreffler said that ‘[we] will [then] have the capability to play any game we want, at any time we want and at any level of security, not only at Quantico but also with other nodes in [the USMC] and in the wider DoD where the appropriate networks are in place’.

He noted that the Neller Center will be the largest SAP facility in the US National Capital Region and expected it will start to have uses beyond the USMC requirement. He said there had already been a number of visitors from the Joint Staff and the other services and that once the facility was established there would be a Joint Staff detachment and liaison officers in place.

‘It’s going to become a nexus for joint integration, as there are benefits all round,’ Schreffler added, noting that there will also be the ability to ‘to tie in with allies and partners, either remotely or in person’.

He emphasised the amount of work that has gone into the multi-level and cross-domain security aspects, with different levels of physical as well as data access, to ensure that those taking part in games can see everything they are entitled to but no more.

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