US military gets real with `Star Wars’ through futuristic war games

The United States military has completed war games with several exciting elements that could have been straight out of the Star Wars movie. Set in the year 2025, the war games were aimed at sharpening the skills of space warfighters.

The US Air Force Space Command's ninth Schriever Wargame took place from Dec. 11 to Dec. 17, 2015, at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, reports Space.com. Besides exploring critical space issues, such as spacecraft jamming, cyber warfare and ground to space attacks, the war games involved anti-satellite and directed-energy weaponry training.

According to the Air Force officials, the simulations also sought to find ways to tackle, and possibly de-escalate, the prospects of space conflict in the future.

The broad objectives of the war games included: identification of ways to increase capabilities of space resilience, exploring how to optimise the performance of warfighters in coalition operations and examining how to apply future capabilities to protect space.

About 200 military and civilian experts from more than 27 US government agencies (including NASA) participated in the war games. Experts from US allies, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, also took part in the exercises, which marked the 15th anniversary of the Schriever Wargame.

The games, which began in 2000-2001 as a biannual event, have become an annual exercise, says Executive Wargame Director Jason Altchek. Describing the lessons learned during the wargames as invaluable, Altchek said, "Wargames are played in the future…..We look into the future so we have the opportunity to guide it slightly different in a better fashion."

The recent war games underline the growing concern that America's next major war could start with computer attacks and threats to satellites, reports the Gazette. The military's satellites for communications and navigation are controlled by Schriever airmen.