Military exercise
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A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of warfare or test tactics and strategies without actual combat. They also ensure the combat readiness of garrisoned or deployable forces prior to deployment from a home base.
While both war games and military exercises aim to simulate real conditions and scenarios for the purpose of preparing and analyzing those scenarios, the distinction between a war game and a military exercise is determined, primarily, by the involvement of actual military forces within the simulation, or lack thereof. Military exercises focus on the simulation of real, full-scale military operations in controlled hostile conditions in attempts to reproduce war time decisions and activities for training purposes or to analyze the outcome of possible war time decisions. War games, however, can be much smaller than full-scale military operations, do not typically include the use of functional military equipment, and decisions and actions are carried out by artificial players to simulate possible decisions and actions within an artificial scenario which usually represents a model of a real-world scenario. Additionally, mathematical modeling is used in the simulation of war games to provide a quantifiable method of deduction. However, it is rare that a war game is depended upon for quantitative results, and the use of war games is more often found in situations where qualitative factors of the simulated scenario are needed to be determined.[1]
The actual use of war games and the results that they can provide are limited by possibilities. War games cannot be used to achieve predictive results, as the nature of war and the scenarios that war games aim to simulate are not deterministic. Therefore, war games are primarily used to consider multiple possible outcomes of any given decision, or number of decisions, made in the simulated scenario. These possible outcomes are analyzed and compared, and cause-and-effect relationships are typically sought for the unknown factors within the simulation. It is typically the relationships between visual aspects of the simulation that aid in the assessment of the problems that are simulated within war games, like geographic locations and positionings that would be difficult to discern or analyze at full-scale and for complex environments.[2]
Military exercises involving multiple branches of the same military are known as joint exercises, while military exercises involving two or more countries are known as combined, coalition, bilateral, or multilateral exercises, depending on the nature of the relationship between the countries and the number of them involved. These exercises allow for better coordination between militaries and observation of enemy tactics, and serve as a visible show of strength and cooperation for the participating countries.[3] According to a 2021 study, joint military exercises within well-defined alliances usually deter adversaries without producing a moral hazard because of the narrow scope of the alliance, while joint military exercises outside of an alliance (which are extremely rare) usually lead to conflict escalation.[4]
Exercises in the 20th and 21st centuries have often been identified by a unique
Military exercises are sometimes used as cover for the build up to an actual invasion, as in the cases of the
Types
Command post
A Command Post Exercise (CPX) typically focuses on the battle readiness of staffs such as a particular
Field
Historical names for the field exercise, or the full-scale rehearsal of military maneuvers as practice for warfare in the military services of the British Commonwealth include "schemes", while those of the military services United States are known as
Multiple forces
Several different armed forces of the same nation training together are described as having a joint exercise. Those involving forces of multiple nations are described as having a combined exercise or coalition exercise. These are called a bilateral exercise if based on security agreements between two nations, or a multilateral exercise if the agreement is between multiple nations.
Simulation
Other types of exercise include the Tactical Exercise Without Troops (TEWT), also known as a
Military operations and training have included different scenarios a soldier might encounter with morals and different ethics. In one military operation soldiers are frequently asked to engage in combat, humanitarian, and stabilization roles. These increase the ambiguity of a role one may encounter and challenge of ethics. This will also lead the military personnel to have to make a difficult call in challenging circumstances.[6] Even in difficult situations and conditions, military personnel still has to follow rules and regulations such as: 1) when the right thing to do is not immediately clear; 2) when two or more important principles or values support different actions, and 3) when some harm will result, regardless of the actions taken (Defense Ethics Program, Department of National Defense, 2012). These simulations involve crude living conditions, sleep deprivations, time limit, and either lack or ambiguous amount of information.
A subset of simulated exercises is the Table Top Exercise (TTX), typically limited to senior personnel stepping through the decision-making processes they would employ in a crisis, a contingency, or general warfare.
History
The use of military exercises and war games can be found to date back to as early as the early 19th century, wherein it was the officers of the Prussian Army who created the contemporary, tactical form of wargames that have since been more widely used and developed by other military conglomerations throughout the world. Non-tactical forms of wargames have existed for much longer, however, in the forms of tabletop games such as chess and Go.[7]
The modern use of military exercises grew out of the military need to study warfare and to
Prussia's victory over the Second French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) is sometimes partly credited to the training of Prussian officers with the wargame Kriegsspiel, which was invented around 1811 and gained popularity with many officers in the Prussian army. These first wargames were played with dice which represented "friction", or the intrusion of less than ideal circumstances during a real war (including morale, meteorology, the fog of war, etc.).
21st century militaries still use wargames to simulate future wars and
Early game theory included only
- Neither prisoners betrays the other, and both are given short-term sentences
- One prisoner betrays the other, and is freed, while the other gets a long sentence
- Both prisoners betray each other, and both are given mid-sized sentences
This model gave the basis for the
List of military exercises
Current and recurring
Name | Host | Type | Focus | First held | Frequency |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anatolian Eagle | Turkey | Multilateral | Aerial warfare | 2001 | No fixed schedule |
AMAN | Pakistan | Multilateral | Maritime security | 2007 | Biannual |
Balikatan | Philippines | Bilateral | Combined arms | 1991 | Annual |
BALTOPS | NATO | Multilateral | Naval warfare | 1971 | Annual |
Blue Flag | Israel | Bilateral | Aerial warfare | 2013 | No fixed schedule |
Bright Star | Egypt | Bilateral | Combined arms | 1980 | Biannual |
Cobra Gold | Thailand | Multilateral | Combined arms; military simulation; humanitarian aid and disaster relief | 1982 | Annual |
Cold Response
|
NATO (Norway) | Multilateral | Defense readiness | 2006 | Biannual |
Croix du Sud | France | Multilateral | Humanitarian aid and disaster relief | 2002 | Biannual |
Dynamic Manta | NATO | Multilateral | Naval warfare | 2006 | Annual |
Garuda Shield | Indonesia | Multilateral | Combined arms; command post; humanitarian aid and disaster relief | 2007 | Annual |
Green Dagger | United States | Multilateral | Infantry combat | 2019 | Annual |
Malabar | India | Multilateral | Naval warfare; maritime security | 1992 | Annual |
Maple Flag | Canada | Multilateral | Aerial combat | 1978 | Annual |
Real Thaw
|
Portugal | Multilateral | Aerial combat | 2009 | Annual |
Red Flag | United States | Multilateral | Aerial combat | 1975 | Triannual/bimonthly |
Red Flag – Alaska | United States | Multilateral | Aerial warfare | 2006 | Triannual/quadannual |
Resolute Dragon | Japan | Bilateral | Defense readiness; command and control | 2021 | Annual |
RIMPAC | United States | Multilateral | Naval warfare | 1971 | Biannual |
Saif Sareea | Oman | Bilateral | Combined arms | 1986 | No fixed schedule |
Talisman Saber
|
Australia, United States | Bilateral | Combined arms; combat readiness | 2005 | Biannual |
Varuna | India | Bilateral | Naval warfare | 1993 | Annual |
Zapad
|
Russia, Soviet Union | Joint | Varying focuses | 1981 | No fixed schedule |
Former, significant
Name | Host | Type | Focus | Held | Frequency | Significance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fleet problem | United States | Joint | Naval warfare | 1923–1941, 2014–2021 | No fixed schedule | Bulk of U.S. Navy exercises in the interwar period until World War II |
Carolina Maneuvers | United States | Joint | Warfare strategy | 1941 | Standalone | Involved approximately 350,000 soldiers |
Louisiana Maneuvers | United States | Joint | Warfare strategy | 1941 | Standalone | Involved approximately 400,000 soldiers, including several officers who would become prominent military leaders during World War II |
Reforger | NATO (West Germany) | Multilateral | Combat readiness | 1969–1988, 1990–1993 | Annual | Display of preparedness in the event of war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact |
North China Military Exercise | China | Joint | Unknown | 1981 | Standalone | Involved over 114,000 soldiers; the largest Chinese military exercise up to that point |
Able Archer | NATO | Multilateral; command post | Combat readiness; nuclear warfare | Unknown | Annual | Able Archer 83 was mistakenly perceived by the Soviet Union to be genuine NATO war preparations |
Brasstacks | India | Joint | Combined arms | 1986–1987 | Standalone | Involved approximately 500,000 soldiers; the largest military exercise on the Indian subcontinent in history |
Millennium Challenge | United States | Simulation | Warfare strategy | 2002 | Standalone | Restarted after Blueforce (representing the U.S.) was quickly defeated by Redforce (representing Iran or Iraq), with a new rule limiting Redforce's capabilities and favoring Blueforce; caused controversy when Blueforce won |
Caucasus 2009 | Russia | Joint | Combat readiness | 2009 | Standalone | Conducted as a show of force against Georgia after the Russo-Georgian War |
Vostok 2010 | Russia | Joint | Combat readiness; command and control | 2010 | Standalone | One of the largest military exercises in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union; intended to test Russian military modernization |
Vostok 2018 | Russia | Multilateral | Combat readiness; command and control | 2018 | Standalone | Included China and Mongolia, the first countries outside the former Soviet Union to join Russia's Vostok Exercises |
Union Resolve 2022 | Russia | Bilateral | Combined arms; warfare strategy | 2022 | Standalone | Considered a cover for Russian mobilization prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
|
2022 Chinese military exercises around Taiwan | China, Taiwan | Joint (not involving Taiwan) | Naval warfare; combined arms | 2022 | Standalone | Conducted as a show of force against the U.S. to deter American influence in Taiwan, shortly after U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan |
See also
References
- JSTOR 44636822.
- JSTOR 26396724.
- ^ "Why Russia and China's joint military exercises should worry the West". The Economist. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- S2CID 237734258.
- ^ "United States Military Exercises". Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- PMID 25206947.
- JSTOR 260304.
- Manuel de Landa, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines, p. 127, Swerve Editions, New York, 1991
- JSTOR 827835.
- S2CID 143079407.
- Manuel de Landa, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines
External links
- Complete 911 Timeline: Center for Cooperative Research – Military exercises up to 9/11