How Iran Defeated The U.S. Military In A War (Thankfully It Was A Simulation)
ByMaya CarlinPublished7 hours ago
Iran Did the Unthinkable in a 2002 Wargame – In 2002, the Pentagon convened a fictitious wargame to test a future enemy equipped with advanced technology and tactics. Dubbed the Millennium Challenge, the congressionally-mandated exercise pitted the “blue” U.S. team up against the “red” Iran-like Middle Eastern team, set in a timeframe five years in the future. The warfare practice involved both live exercises and computer simulations, which cost approximately $250 million. The games grew to encompass 13,500 service members participating from 17 different simulation locations across several training sites. Within a matter of days the red team sunk 19 blue team’s ships and rendered its carrier battle group ineffective. While the rules of the game remain controversial, its outcome emphasized the detriment of group thinking and the power of innovative asymmetric warfare.
In the months following the 9/11 attacks, the Bush Administration implemented its doctrine of pre-emption, meaning the U.S. could launch an offensive on an enemy before being attacked. With this in mind, the red team’s leader Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper decided to begin the wargame by “pre-empting the pre-empter.” The U.S. suspected the red team’s smaller and inferior military would wait to be attacked first before it responded with a counterattack. Scrambling and caught off guard, the blue team was quickly overwhelmed.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/how-iran-defeated-the-u-s-military-in-a-war-thankfully-it-was-a-simulation/
