\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRAND guys just playing tabletop games to test out NATO strategy
\n\n\nThe research documented in this report was conducted in a\nseries of wargames conducted between the summer of 2014\nand early spring 2015. Players included RAND analysts and\nboth uniformed and civilian members of various Department\nof Defense organizations, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Air\nForce, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Joint Staff, U.S. Army in\nEurope, and U.S. Air Forces, Europe, as well as NATO Naval\nCommand, Europe.
\nRAND developed this map-based tabletop exercise because\nexisting models were ill-suited to represent the many unknowns\nand uncertainties surrounding a conventional military campaign\nin the Baltics, where low force-to-space ratios and relatively open\nterrain meant that maneuver between dispersed forces\u2014rather\nthan pushing and shoving between opposing units arrayed along\na linear front\u2014would likely be the dominant mode of combat.\nFurther, the novelty of the scenario meant that there was little\nto go on in terms of strategic or operational concepts for either\nside; the free play of experts was needed to begin developing\nreasonable plans, branches, and sequels.
\nThe general game design was similar to that of traditional\nboard wargames, with a hex grid governing movement superimposed\non a map. Tactical Pilotage Charts (1:500,000 scale)\nwere used, overlaid with 10-km hexes, as seen in Figure A.1.\nLand forces were represented at the battalion level and air units\nas squadrons; movement and combat were governed and adjudicated\nusing rules and combat-result tables that incorporated\nboth traditional gaming principles (e.g., Lanchester exchange\nrates) and the results of offline modeling. We also developed\noffline spreadsheet models to handle both inter- and intratheater\nmobility. All these were subject to continual refinement\nas we repeatedly played the game, although the basic structure\nand content of the platform proved sound.
\nOrders of battle and tables of organization and equipment\nwere developed using unclassified sources. Ground unit combat\nstrengths were based on a systematic scoring of individual weapons,\nfrom tanks and artillery down to light machine guns, which\nwere then aggregated according to the tables of organization and\nequipment for the various classes of NATO and Russian units.\nOverall unit scores were adjusted to account for differences in\ntraining, sustainment, and other factors not otherwise captured.\nAir unit combat strengths were derived from the results of offline\nengagement, mission, and campaign-level modeling.
\nFull documentation of the gaming platform will be forthcoming\nin a subsequent report.
\n*bangs on table* RELEASE THE GAMING PLATFORM
\nI do not know with which weapons WWIII will be fought, but I sure hope it involves a ton of dice.
\nIs there even supposed to be traditional maneuver warfare in the hypothetical epic showdown between NATO and Russia? Don\u2019t they just annihilate each other\u2019s forces with tactical nukes?
Modern front-line ground forces are highly resistant to nuclear weapons. Getting around this was what neutron bombs were invented for, since even back then tanks would be but briefly rattled anywhere but in or near the fireball itself, and were later abandoned because tank armor got thick enough to protect against their radiation as well (unless they were close enough to be destroyed by the other effects anyway).
At the same time, that tank can still be destroyed by a conventional bomb that lands directly on it.
I\u2019m sure nukes would have their place, but they\u2019re not the kind of magic unit erasers they\u2019re depicted as in fiction.
The company owned by the family across the street that made ColdEeze basically worked by sorting through a pile of scams and woo and finding “health” things that had actual potential (problem being you were still in business with scammers and woo artists then)
And one of the other things they were working on was like a nuclear sunscreen for radiation protection that they got a DoD grant to look into, because the military intends to survivably operate forces in proximity to high radiation
\n![](\"/media/tumblr_pbztpaoeme1t2bk0jo1_1280_74f0e0c0c6e9.png\")
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