Onyx
Gold Member
- Dec 17, 2015
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I was reading about the 2002 Millennium Challenge war game, which was designed to test a much larger US force (BLUFOR) against was believed to be a representation of the Iranian military (OPFOR).
Why is this particular war game noteworthy? The US commander in charge of the OPFOR forces dropped out and accused the games of being rigged. Critics of the game allege it as being completely scripted and its organizers of being corrupt.
BLUFOR was given technological advantages and military capabilities that did not exist present day or were speculated to exist during the scenario year (2007). After OPFOR naval forces obliterated the entire BLUFOR carrier group in a move that completely shocked the exercise coordinators, the control cell allowed BLUFOR to magically restore its lost carrier group and re-simulate the battle.
Fast forward and the OPFOR forces were preparing for an amphibious assault from the magically restored BLUFOR carrier group, when they received a mid-game rule change that they were not allowed to fire on equipment and troop transports (after it was revealed that the V-22 prototype had large radar signatures). This allowed BLUFOR to launch a full airborne assault completely unopposed.
The final straw was when the independent control cell prohibited OPFOR from using its chemical weapons against the invaders, which would of decimated the organizing invasion force. The commander of the OPFOR forces, Paul Von Riper, resigned from his position in the game and wrote a heated protest to the pentagon. Eventually BLUFOR defeated the OPFOR forces ,even though they STILL achieved a partial victory by protecting their regime.
Why does all this matter? It confirms a lot of my thoughts (which have been rather unpopular here) on how US military thinking is outdated, and that there is an overwhelming arrogance in the pentagon that US forces are invincible. The entire game was rigged to give the US military good PR, and shelter the incompetent generals in the pentagon from humiliation. No lessons were learned, and if the US were to ever go with Iran (which is far more powerful now than the pentagon ever projected it would be), it will face the same embarrassing defeats that they did in the 2002 Millenium Challenge, and they wont be able to cheat their way to victory.
Why is this particular war game noteworthy? The US commander in charge of the OPFOR forces dropped out and accused the games of being rigged. Critics of the game allege it as being completely scripted and its organizers of being corrupt.
BLUFOR was given technological advantages and military capabilities that did not exist present day or were speculated to exist during the scenario year (2007). After OPFOR naval forces obliterated the entire BLUFOR carrier group in a move that completely shocked the exercise coordinators, the control cell allowed BLUFOR to magically restore its lost carrier group and re-simulate the battle.
Fast forward and the OPFOR forces were preparing for an amphibious assault from the magically restored BLUFOR carrier group, when they received a mid-game rule change that they were not allowed to fire on equipment and troop transports (after it was revealed that the V-22 prototype had large radar signatures). This allowed BLUFOR to launch a full airborne assault completely unopposed.
The final straw was when the independent control cell prohibited OPFOR from using its chemical weapons against the invaders, which would of decimated the organizing invasion force. The commander of the OPFOR forces, Paul Von Riper, resigned from his position in the game and wrote a heated protest to the pentagon. Eventually BLUFOR defeated the OPFOR forces ,even though they STILL achieved a partial victory by protecting their regime.
Why does all this matter? It confirms a lot of my thoughts (which have been rather unpopular here) on how US military thinking is outdated, and that there is an overwhelming arrogance in the pentagon that US forces are invincible. The entire game was rigged to give the US military good PR, and shelter the incompetent generals in the pentagon from humiliation. No lessons were learned, and if the US were to ever go with Iran (which is far more powerful now than the pentagon ever projected it would be), it will face the same embarrassing defeats that they did in the 2002 Millenium Challenge, and they wont be able to cheat their way to victory.